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BV  825  .V3 

Vance,  James  I.  1862-1939. 

In  the  breaking  of  the  bread 


In  the  Breaking  of  the  Bread 


By  James  I.  Vance,  D.D. 


In  the  Breakhig  of  the  Bread.  A  Volume 

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In  the  Breaking  of 
the  Bread 

A  Volume  of  Communion  Addresses 


JAMES  I.  VANCE,  D.D..  L.L.  D. 

Author  of**The  Life  of  Service"  **  The  Liise  of  a 

Soul, "  "  The  Young  Man  Four-Square, "  "  The 

Silver  on  the  Iron  Cross,"  "Tendency,"  etc. 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.   Revell   Company 
London       and       Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


Hinted  in  the  United  States  of  America 


New  York :  1 1)8  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London :  2  \  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :      75     Princes     Street 


Introductory  Note 

NEVER  shall  I  forget  the  impression  made 
upon  me  by  the  remark  of  a  Scotchman 
about  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  was  the 
*•'  pro  "  on  the  golf  links  of  the  Country  Club.  He 
had  but  recently  brought  his  "  lines  "  from  the  old 
country. 

With  an  awesome  look  in  his  face,  and  in  a  tone 
of  deepest  reverence,  he  said:  "  I'm  not  forgetting. 
Dominie,  that  it's  the  sacrament  next  Sunday,  and 
nothing  shall  keep  me  away." 

It  was  not  so  much  what  he  said  as  it  was  the 
way  he  said  it.  The  traditions  of  a  deeply  re- 
ligious race  dissolved  in  the  blood  of  many  genera- 
tions were  speaking. 

To  the  Scotch,  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per Is  the  "  holy  of  holies  "  in  Christian  experience. 
Well  for  all  of  us  if  our  reverence  for  that  high 
hour  were  greater.  Better  for  the  Church  if  the 
holy  mystery  of  the  Presence  could  cast  its  spell 
on  modern  life  until  recreation  as  well  as  wor- 
ship feel  its  hallowing  touch.  He  has  found  a 
sanctuary  in  the  common  place  whose  soul  Is  up- 
lifted and  summoned  by  the  very  thought  of  the 
sacrament,  until  he  resolves  that  nothing  shall  be 
permitted  to  break  his  tryst  with  his  Saviour. 

5 


6  *    INTEODUCTOEY  NOTE 

It  IS  with  the  hope  that  these  communion  ad- 
dresses may  help  to  cultivate  such  a  mood  that  I 
am  sending  them  out.  If  they  shall  direct  medita- 
tion as  the  heart  prepares  for  the  solemn  hour 
when  we  meet  Him  at  the  table;  if  they  shall  serve 
to  quicken  faith  and  kindle  love;  if  they  can  some- 
how show  His  friends  in  any  helpful  way  what 
"  greater  love  "  has  done  that  He  should  be  re- 
membered, then  these  communion  talks  will  serve 
their  purpose. 

The  old-fashioned  custom  of  a  preparatory  serv- 
ice preceding  communion  has  largely  fallen  into 
disuse ;  and  the  Church  has  not  gained  by  its  omis- 
sion. But  there  is  a  preparation  which  the  heart 
can  make  in  the  solitude  of  self-examination,  as 
the  soul  contemplates  the  holy  mysteries  shadowed 
forth  In  the  sacrament. 

It  is  my  hope  that  this  little  volume  may  be 
found  by  some  who  love  Him  a  help  as  they  thus 
prepare. 

J.  I.  V. 

Nashville,  Tenn, 


Contents 

I. 

In  the  Breaking  of  the  Bread 

9 

II. 

The  Holy  Supper     .         .        .        . 

17 

III. 

The  Mystical  Friendship 

.       25 

IV. 

Christ  Liveth  in  Me 

.       31 

V. 

The  Glory  of  the  Cross 

.       38 

VI. 

The  Power  of  the  Cross 

45 

VII. 

Cross-Bearing  .... 

.      53 

VIII. 

Peace  !     Perfect  Peace  ! 

.      62 

IX. 

The  Union  of  Communion 

.      69 

X. 

The    New    Communion    in  the 

Kingdom    .... 

.      76 

XI. 

The  Necessity  of  the  Resurrection 

f      85 

XII. 

The  Glorious  Death 

88 

XIII. 

Taking  Christ  from  the  Cross 

95 

XIV. 

The  Human  Christ  .        .         .        , 

103 

XV. 

The  Divine  Christ  .        .        .        . 

III 

XVI. 

Why  Christ  is  Not  Forgotten 

120 

XVII. 

Jesus  Only       .... 

127 

XVIII. 

"Of  Me" 

134 

XIX. 

The  Program  of  the  Upper  Room   . 

141 

XX. 

Inside  the  Cup          .        .        .        . 

151 

XXI. 

Where  Suffering  and  Glory  Blend 
7 

156 

8  CONTENTS 

XXII.  From    the    Communion    Table    to 

Perjury     .         .         .         .         .162 

XXIII.  Can   the    World  Reproduce    Cal- 

vary?         171 

XXIV.  Memory  and  Hope  at  the  Commun- 

ion Table 178 


IN  THE  BREAKING  OF  THE  BREAD 

"  They  told    .    .    .    how  he  was  known  of  them  in  breaks 
ing  of  bread." — LuKE  24 :  35. 

IT  was  near  midnight  after  one  of  the  strangest 
days  the  world  has  ever  known.  Wonderful 
things  had  taken  place  that  day,  and  so  rap- 
idly there  was  little  time  for  reflection,  and  so 
marvellous  that  had  there  been  time  to  reflect,  re- 
flection would  only  have  deepened  amazement. 

The  day  was  the  day  of  the  resurrection.  That 
morning  Christ  had  risen  from  the  dead.  The  rock 
tomb  was  rent,  and  the  dead  Saviour  walked  forth 
into  the  world  and  showed  Himself  to  Mary  in  the 
garden.  Peter  and  John  had  visited  the  tomb,  and 
had  brought  back  the  story  of  the  empty  sepulchre 
and  of  the  angel's  message.  It  was  the  night  of 
that  strange  day. 

The  place,  I  think,  was  the  upper  room,  the 
chamber  in  which  Christ  met  for  the  last  time  with 
His  friends.  There  was  no  place  on  earth  more 
sacred.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  only  home  the 
disciples  had.  There  Jesus  washed  His  disciples* 
feet.  There  the  Holy  Supper  was  instituted. 
There  the  early  church  gathered  in  prayer.    There 

9 


10     IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BREAD 

Pentecost  came  to  pass.  And  there  Jesus  appeared 
again  and  again  to  His  own.  Never  was  there  a 
place  more  consecrated.  No  cathedral  was  ever 
fuller  of  a  Divine  Presence.  And  yet  it  was  just 
the  upper  room.  But  if  ever  there  was  a  sanctuary, 
it  was  there.  Nine  men  wait  in  the  upper  room. 
There  is  wonder  in  their  faces.  They  are  talking 
over  the  strange  events  of  the  day,  of  Mary's  mes- 
sage. Perhaps  they  recall  the  last  night  He  was 
with  them,  of  where  He  sat,  of  how  He  looked,  of 
the  tones  of  His  voice  as  He  spoke  to  them,  and 
then  of  how  He  broke  the  bread  and  passed  the 
cup.    Thus  the  night  wore  on. 

Suddenly  the  door  opened.  The  two  missing 
disciples  hurriedly  enter.  They  were  not  expected 
so  soon.  They  had  gone  to  Emmaus  that  day  to 
spend  the  night,  and  here  they  are  back  at  mid- 
night. Something  has  happened.  What  can  it  be  ? 
Is  there  some  new  peril?  Does  some  fresh  danger 
impend?  There  is  an  air  of  suppressed  excitement 
about  these  two  men  as  they  enter  the  upper  room. 
Instantly  every  man  is  on  his  feet.  Directly  they 
are  listening  with  their  souls  in  their  faces.  Their 
hearts  beat  faster  as  they  listen.  They  catch  their 
breath.  It  is  all  so  strange  and  wonderful  and 
heavenly. 

The  men  tell  of  the  journey  to  Emmaus,  of  how 
as  they  went,  one  joined  them.  He  inspired  them 
with  confidence,  and  they  opened  their  hearts  and 
told  him  all.     They  told  him  of  their  loss,  and  of 


m  THE  BEEAKING  OP  THE  BBEAD     11 

their  Master's  crucifixion.  Then  he  expounded  to 
them  the  Scriptures,  until  their  hearts  burned  with 
eager  hope.  When  they  reached  their  destination 
he  made  as  if  he  would  go  on,  but  they  constrained 
him  to  stop  and  sup  with  them.  Now  they  are 
describing  the  evening  meal.  With  difficulty  they 
control  themsdves  as  they  speak  of  it.  "  He  sat 
down  with  us,  and  taking  bread  in  His  hands,  He 
blessed  it,  and  broke  it,  and  as  He  did  so  we  saw 
Him.  Our  eyes  were  opened.  It  was  the  Master ! 
We  saw  Him  for  one  glorious,  radiant  instant,  and 
then  He  vanished.  But  it  was  long  enough  for  us 
to  make  sure.  It  was  Jesus.  It  was  He  Who  was 
nailed  to  the  tree,  Whom  we  laid  in  the  tomb.  He 
IS  not  dead.  He  is  alive.  We  have  walked  and 
talked  with  Him,  and  He  was  known  to  us  in  the 
breaking  of  the  bread !  " 

Such  was  the  story  the  two  men  told  at  the  mid- 
night hour  in  the  upper  room.  How  it  must  have 
thrilled  that  little  company,  and  filled  the  disciples 
with  ecstasy  as  they  told  how  He  was  known  of 
them  in  breaking  of  bread!  Perhaps  the  story 
does  not  thrill  us  as  it  thrilled  them.  We  have 
grown  used  to  it.  The  glamour  is  gone.  Our 
hearts  do  not  burn  so  easily.  But  the  message  is 
ours ;  the  fact  that  the  glory  of  the  presence  of  the 
risen  Christ  broke  through  the  barriers  which  di- 
vide two  worlds,  and  flashed  out  in  conscious  rec- 
ognition on  the  faith  of  His  disciples  in  the  break- 
ing of  the  bread  is  for  us  and  for  all  who  love  Him. 


12     IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BEEAD 

The  Revealing  Christ 

Jesus  reveals  Himself  in  the  breaking  of  the 
bread.  That  was  the  message.  Think  of  what  it 
must  have  meant  to  those  men  in  the  upper  room ! 
It  should  not  mean  less  to  His  disciples  to-day  as 
they  gather  in  hallowed  remembrance  to  partake  of 
the  symbols  of  His  passion. 

As  they  listened,  the  disciples  said :  "  The  Mas- 
ter is  not  trying  to  hide  from  us.  He  would  not 
conceal  Himself.  He  is  seeking  to  show  His  face, 
and  to  meet  us.  The  mystery  of  His  presence  is 
not  a  rare  experience  for  the  privileged  few  in 
some  exceptional  and  exalted  moment,  but  it  is  for 
all,  and  it  is  to  be  had  in  the  homely  hours  of 
common  toil,  for  He  shows  Himself  in  the  break- 
ing of  the  bread." 

It  was  just  a  loaf  of  common  bread.  Christ 
took  the  poor  man's  fare  and  made  it  the  symbol 
and  medium  of  blessing.  He  joined  the  highest 
and  rarest  of  spiritual  privileges  to  the  daily  por- 
tion of  the  poor,  just  as  though  He  would  say: 
"  My  best  is  for  all.  If  one  has  no  more  than  a 
loaf  of  bread,  he  may  still  have  divinity  for  a 
guest." 

Is  it  not  something  to  believe  in  a  Saviour  Who 
reveals  Himself  through  bread,  through  the  homely 
fare  of  the  common  life?  Jesus  is  not  an  aristo- 
crat. He  belongs  to  the  needy  world,  and  associ- 
ates in  holy  hours  of  fellowship  through  the  hum- 


IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BEEAB  13 

ble  and  lowly  things  of  life.  Such  a  Presence 
transforms  all,  and  makes  even  want  itself  a  sacra- 
ment. 

As  they  heard  how  He  was  known  in  the  break- 
ing of  the  bread,  the  disciples  think  of  that  last 
night  when  He  took  bread  and  blessed  it,  and  said : 
"  This  is  my  body  which  is  for  you."  They  begin 
to  see  what  the  Saviour  meant,  that  it  was  not  a 
common  meal  but  a  sacrament,  and  that  He  was  to 
show  Himself  to  them  down  the  years  in  the  break- 
ing of  bread.  Thus  in  a  hallowed  memorial  they 
were  to  communicate  with  Him.  The  bread  was 
the  sacramental  symbol  of  His  presence.  So  with 
awesome  reverence  in  their  little  meetings  they  be- 
gan to  observe  the  supper  as  an  act  of  faith.  The 
mystic  Presence  of  the  table  at  Emmaus  was  given 
to  them  also,  until  down  the  years  Jesus  has  been 
making  Himself  known  to  His  disciples  in  the 
breaking  of  the  bread. 

Christ  reveals  Himself  to  His  friends  when  we 
think  of  Him  and  talk  about  Him  and  try  to  serve 
Him,  when  in  some  act  of  charity  or  kindness  we 
minister  to  others  in  His  name.  But  Jesus  shows 
Himself  to  us  in  the  breaking  of  the  bread.  He 
said:  "This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  To  the 
devout  soul  who  reverently  partakes  of  the  symbol 
of  mystic  fellowship  at  the  holy  table  there  is 
granted  a  glimpse  into  the  glory.  As  at  Emmaus, 
so  always.  Christ  is  near,  until  you  can  look 
across  the  table  and  see  Him. 


14     IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BEEAB 

"  Speak  to  Him  now,  for  He  hears  thee, 
And  spirit  with  spirit  doth  meet, 
He  is  closer  to  thee  than  breathing, 
Nearer  than  hands  and  feet." 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  a  real  Presence  which 
every  Christian  may  cherish,  not  the  crude  tenet 
that  wine  is  changed  to  blood  and  bread  to  flesh  at 
the  say-so  of  a  priest,  but  that  the  Saviour  associ- 
ates Himself  with  the  divinely  appointed  symbols 
of  His  passion,  and  through  these  symbols  which 
tell  the  story  of  His  love,  and  to  those  who  partake 
in  faith,  He  makes  Himself  known. 

n  so,  can  I  afford  to  neglect  the  holy  table? 
Can  I  despise  the  communion  season,  and  approach 
it  with  low  and  common  thoughts,  or  with  selfish 
and  carnal  views?  Those  two  disciples  nearly 
missed  the  blessing.  Let  us  beware  lest,  Christ 
walking  and  talking  with  us,  we  should  miss  seeing 
Him  because  we  do  not  sit  with  Him  at  the  table 
and  have  Him  break  to  us  the  bread  of  life. 


The  Christ  Who  Makes  Himself  Known 
It  is  the  crucified  Christ  Who  is  known  in  the 
breaking  of  thcTread.  This  is  the  message  of  the 
sacrament.  It  tells  us  that  Jesus  died.  Those 
men  saw  this  at  Emmaus.  There  was  the  print  of 
the  nails  and  of  the  thorns.  Christ  is  careful  to 
tell  us  this.  As  often  as  we  eat  the  bread  and  drink 
the  cup,  we  do  show  forth  His  death  till  He  come. 


IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BEEAD     15 

But  it  was  also  the  risen  Christ.  That  was  the 
thrilling  news  the  two  men  brought  their  comrades. 
It  was  what  made  them  retrace  the  weary  miles 
that  fateful  night.  They  returned  to  Jerusalem 
not  to  say:  "  Jesus  is  dead !  "  but  to  declare:  "  He 
lives !  "  Some  seem  to  think  it  makes  little  differ-* 
ence  whether  one  believes  in  the  resurrection  or 
not.  Such  people  have  never  had  a  real  sacrament. 
"  Now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead."  No  dead 
Christ  could  stir  the  world  as  Christ  is  stirring  it. 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world !  "  A  dead  Christ  could  not  fulfill  that 
promise.  "  Christ  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  us,"  and  His  prayers  are  not  dead  prayers.  He 
has  promised  to  come  again.  He  is  in  His  people, 
in  the  world.  He  is  inescapable,  unavoidable. 
Christ  lives! 

It  is  also  the  present  Christ  Who  is  known  in  the 
breaking  of  the  bread.  Jesus  is  not  far  away.  He 
is  with  us.  The  Holy  Supper  is  the  sacrament  of 
the  eternal  Presence.  Jesus  is  not  in  the  tomb,  nor 
in  the  distant  heaven  with  some  great  gulf  of 
darkness  between  Him  and  His  own.  He  is  here. 
We  may  not  always  realize  His  presence.  We 
may  not  see  Him.  But  it  is  not  because  He  Him- 
self is  unreal  and  His  presence  fictitious,  but  rather 
because,  like  Mary,  our  eyes  are  poor,  rather  be- 
cause we,  too,  are  slow  to  believe. 

Christ  is  with  us.  Heaven  Is  at  our  doorstep. 
Jesus  Is  at  the  table.     It  Is  always  so.     The  stran- 


16     IN  THE  BEEAKING  OF  THE  BEEAD 

gest  thing  that  awesome  night  took  place  as  the  two 
men  were  telling  their  story.  Suddenly  they  be- 
came conscious  of  another  presence  in  the  room. 
No  door  had  opened,  but  Jesus  was  there.  They 
thought  they  had  left  Him  behind  at  Emmaus,  but 
He  is  with  them,  among  them.  He  is  showing  the 
print  of  the  nails.  He  is  saying:  "  Peace  be  unto 
you !  '*  He  is  talking  with  His  friends  as  He  did 
in  the  old  days.  So  it  is  always,  in  shadowy,  spiri- 
tual outline,  but  in  real  protecting  presence,  Jesus  is 
with  us.  The  Christ  Who  hung  on  the  cross  is  at 
our  table.  Just  across,  we  can  hear  the  beating  of 
His  heart.  His  hands  are  reaching  out  toward 
us.  We  hear  His  voice.  We  see  His  face.  He 
is  not  distant.  He  is  here.  This  is  the  mes- 
sage of  the  sacrament.  In  times  of  temptation,  in 
hours  of  loneliness,  in  sorrow  and  need,  Jesus  is 
with  us  to  sustain  and  comfort,  to  preserve  us  unto 
the  end,  until,  having  finished,  we  shall  see  Him 
face  to  face,  and  know  as  we  are  known. 

Oh,  for  mysticism  enough  to  break  away  from 
the  bondage  of  sense  and  feel  the  spell  of  an  unseen 
Presence,  and  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  face  Whose 
smile  is  heaven!  We  would  see  Jesus.  May  He 
show  Himself  to  His  friends  as  they  gather  around 
His  table!  May  He  speak  until  the  heart  burns! 
May  He  sit  at  the  table  and  Himself  bless  the  sym- 
bols of  hallowed  remembrance,  until  faith  con- 
quers the  barriers  which  divide  two  worlds! 


II 

THE  HOLY  SUPPER 

**As  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do 
show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come" — i  Corinthians  11:26. 

THE  Holy  Supper  tells  the  story  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  and  in 
all  days  since  the  apostles,  in  Christian 
lands  and  in  all  lands,  in  its  apparent  defeats  and 
in  its  unquestioned  triumphs,  whether  regarded  as 
a  doctrinal  system  or  a  ritual  of  worship  or  an 
ethical  revolution  or  a  passion  for  a  person  or  an 
enthusiasm  for  a  kingdom.  However  Christianity 
may  be  regarded  or  estimated  or  interpreted,  its 
entire  story  is  packed  into  and  inseparably  bound 
up  with  the  simple  memorial  observance  of  the 
Holy  Supper. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  Christ  meant  the 
Holy  Supper  to  tell  the  story,  so  that  if  a  day 
should  come  when  His  followers  had  no  one  to 
teach  them,  the  sacrament  of  the  Holy  Supper 
might  teach  them;  so  that  if  a  time  should  come 
when  the  Church  had  no  hymns,  no  preachers,  and 
no  formal  worship,  its  people  might  still  meet  and 
.break  bread  and  remember  Him;  so  that  if  there 
should  come  a  time  when  the  Bible  itself  was  taken 

17 


18  THE  HOLY  SUPPER 

from  them,  they  might  have  in  this  simple  memo- 
rial of  His  dying  love  a  revelation  and  a  proclama- 
tion of  the  truth  that  saves  the  world. 

A  Perpetual  Sacrament 

The  Holy  Supper  was  to  be  perpetual. — **As 
often  as  ye  eat " — was  the  Saviour's  word.  Its 
observance  was  to  be  frequent.  The  practice  of 
the  early  disciples  seems  to  have  been  to  break 
bread  whenever  they  came  together.  Familiarity, 
however,  breeds  contempt,  and  soon  reverence  was 
dulled.  The  Holy  Supper  came  to  be  treated  as  a 
common  meal,  and  there  came  about  a  shameful 
condition  of  things  which  Paul  rebukes  in  this 
chapter.  In  eating,  some  were  hungry,  and  some 
drunken.  Thus  by  experience  was  established  the 
wisdom  of  definite  communion  seasons  in  the 
Church. 

The  frequency  with  which  the  Holy  Supper  is 
to  be  observed  is  not  to  be  settled  by  any  hard  and 
fast  rule.  Some  churches  observe  it  every  Lord's 
Day,  others  at  intervals  of  from  two  to  three 
months.  It  is  certainly  an  advantage  in  the  way 
of  intensified  devotion  and  deepened  reverence 
when  the  table  is  not  approached  too  often.  One 
who  looks  occasionally  at  a  great  mountain  uplift, 
or  gazes  across  a  vast  expanse  of  open  sea,  has  his 
soul  stirred ;  but  those  who  see  it  all  the  time  soon 
cease  to  see  it.  The  Mount  of  Transfiguration  was 
a  great  place  for  a  spiritual  rapture,  but  it  was  a 


THE  HOLY  SUPPEE  19 

poor  location  for  a  permanent  residence.  The 
Holy  Supper  is  not  to  be  observed  so  often  that  we 
shall  lose  our  awesome  reverence  and  cease  to  re- 
gard it  as  holy  ground.  Nevertheless,  we  are  not 
to  forget  that  if  it  is  to  bless  us,  it  must  be  kept 
again  and  again,  for  this  was  the  Saviour's  com- 
mand. We  are  to  keep  it  often  because  our  souls 
need  the  help  that  comes  in  this  way,  and  because 
the  truths  the  Holy  Supper  proclaims  are  truths  we 
cannot  ponder  too  much  nor  learn  too  well. 

Such  has  been  the  history  of  the  Holy  Supper  as 
the  centuries  have  come  and  gone.  It  has  been  a 
symbol  along  which  faith  has  passed  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  It  has  been  a  bond  of  union 
between  the  saints  in  all  ages  of  the  Christian 
Church.  It  has  kept  alive  the  holy  flames  on  the 
altar  of  the  heart's  devotion.  Kingdoms  have 
come  and  gone.  Great  churches  have  been  erected 
and  have  fallen  into  decay.  Sects  have  risen, 
flourished,  and  had  their  day.  Continents  have 
been  discovered.  Men's  ideas  about  the  universe 
have  undergone  a  radical  change.  The  very  civili- 
zation of  the  race  has  altered.  But  through  it  all 
the  noblest,  knightliest,  gentlest  spirits  have  kept 
this  simple  feast. 

Under  what  widely  differing  circumstances  they 
have  kept  it !  Sometimes  in  the  sunlit  open,  some- 
times hunted  like  wild  beasts,  they  have  fled  for 
cover  to  caves  and  tombs  to  eat  the  bread  and  drink 
the  sacramental  cup.    Sometimes  in  some  gorgeous 


20  THE  HOLY  SUPPER 

ceremonial  of  Church  or  State,  when  a  pontiff  was 
consecrated,  or  a  monarch  was  crowned,  and  some 
august  dynasty  had  its  day  of  days,  and  sometimes 
when  the  red  wine  of  the  cup  was  atoned  for  with 
the  life  blood  of  the  celebrant, — still  through  all 
the  years  the  feast  has  been  kept  by  all  classes  and 
kindreds  and  nations  and  tongues,  for  its  speech  of 
hallowed  symbolism  is  a  language  all  can  under- 
stand. As  they  have  gathered  high  and  low,  king 
and  peasant,  soldier  and  monk,  earthly  distinctions 
have  disappeared,  for  all  have  felt  the  spell  of  that 
Presence  which  makes  us  one. 

As  we  come  to  the  communion  table,  we  push 
our  way  into  this  goodly  company  whose  presence 
overflows  all  the  tides  of  time,  and  the  song  of 
whose  devotion  must  not  be  out  of  harmony  with 
that  which  fills  the  arches  of  heaven  itself.  As  we 
partake  of  the  sacramental  emblems,  we  enter  into 
the  fellowship  of  all  those  who  in  all  the  earth 
keep  the  feast,— of  our  brothers  and  sisters  in 
other  churches !  How  small  our  differences  when 
we  sit  at  the  same  table !  We  have  fellowship  with 
those  in  other  lands,  also,  who  have  been  gathered 
out  of  the  non-Christian  nations,  with  missionaries 
on  the  frontier,  and  also  with  that  innumerable 
company  who  have  crossed  the  flood  and  who  have 
passed  from  the  Church  militant  to  the  Church 
triumphant.     We  are  not  divided. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  message  the  Holy  Sup- 
per utters.     It  speaks  not  simply  of  those  who  keep 


THE  HOLY  SUPPER  21 

the  feast,  but  chiefly  of  Him  in  Whose  sweet  mem- 
ory the  feast  is  kept. 

The  Sacrament  of  His  Death 
The  Holy  Supper  proclaims  the  Saviour's  death. 
As  we  take  the  bread,  it  speaks  of  His  body 
wounded  and  bruised,  of  the  nails  driven  through 
His  hands  and  feet,  of  the  thorns  which  pierced 
His  brow,  of  the  spear  that  was  thrust  into  His 
blessed  side,  of  His  great  weariness,  and  of  the  body 
taken  from  the  cross  and  lovingly  laid  in  Joseph's 
tomb.  As  we  touch  the  chalice  of  wine  to  our  lips, 
it  speaks  to  us  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  of  the  blood- 
drops  in  the  garden,  of  the  blood  shed  on  the  cross, 
of  that  crimson  tide  which  cleanses  the  guilty  soul 
and  makes  us  white  as  snow. 

The  Holy  Supper  shows  the  death  of  Christ. 
Jesus  would  keep  forever  fresh  in  the  hearts  of  His 
people  the  remembrance  of  His  death.  He  would 
not  have  them  lose  or  forget  the  least  detail  or  the 
slightest  incident  connected  with  it.  Whenever 
the  Supper  is  kept,  it  is  as  though  the  sacramental 
emblems  would  say:  "  Come,  look  into  the  face  of 
the  dead  Christ,  and  worship  the  wounds  of  the 
Redeemer ! " 

It  is  His  death  that  saves  us.  The  thought  that 
He  loved  us  enough  to  die  for  us  makes  us  better. 
The  contemplation  of  a  love  so  steadfast  and  di- 
vine that  It  did  not  draw  back  at  the  cross  gives  us 
hope.     The  penalty  He  paid  there  on  the  accursed 


22  THE  HOLY  SUPPEE 

tree  forever  emancipates  us  from  condemnation. 
What  an  atonement  is  the  death  of  Christ! 

And  so  we  eat  the  bread  and  drinlc  the  cup,  and 
proclaim  that  Christ  died.  Tliis  is  what  Christ's 
followers  have  been  doing  for  two  thousand  years. 
They  have  not  been  trying  to  hide  their  Leader's 
death,  or  to  conceal  a  fact  which  to  the  world 
would  seem  a  certain  sign  of  defeat.  They  have 
been  boasting  of  it.  As  believers  have  gathered 
through  the  passing  years,  they  have  been  saying 
to  each  other  and  to  the  world:  *'  He  died.  Our 
God  died."  He  is  the  only  God  in  the  annals  of 
worship  Who  is  not  afraid  to  have  His  followers 
say  it  of  Him,  and  the  reason  He  is  not  afraid  is 
that  His  death  is  His  people's  deathless  hope. 

The  Sacrament  of  His  Return 

The  Holy  Supper  predicts  that  Christ  will  come 
again.  It  shows  His  death  till  He  comes.  He 
died,  but  He  is  not  dead.  He  is  coming.  Death 
did  not  even  stop  Him.  The  cross  was  merely  a 
station  on  the  road  Christ  travelled.  Therefore,  so 
far  from  being  a  defeat,  it  was  a  glorious  victory. 
What  are  we  to  understand  by  Christ's  return? 
The  Church  has  been  perplexed  to  know.  The 
early  disciples  looked  for  a  speedy  return,  but  the 
centuries  have  come  and  gone,  and  still  the  Church 
N  kneels  with  its  face  toward  the  coming  Christ  and 
prays:  "  Oh,  Lord,  tarry  not,  but  come!  "  It  can- 
not refer  to  His  resurrection,  for  it  was  His  ascen- 


THE  HOLY  SUPPER  23 

sion  promise.  It  must  mean  more  than  His  com- 
ing at  death  when  the  shadow  door  opens  and  we 
see  Him  face  to  face.  He  is  coming  in  the  Ufe  of 
the  world,  in  its  laws  and  institutions,  in  its  chari- 
ties and  philanthropies,  in  the  very  character  of  its 
civilization,  in  the  kingdom  that  is  coming.  Must 
it  not,  however,  mean  more  than  this?  For  the 
promise  is  not  till  we  go  to  Him,  till  we  are  like 
Him,  till  His  kingdom  come,  but  till  He  come.  It 
is  a  prophecy  of  the  personal  return  of  Jesus. 

Christ  is  coming.  This  is  the  hope  w^hich  sus- 
tained the  early  Christians,  and  made  them  in- 
vincible. Christ  was  not  going  from  them,  but 
coming  toward  them.  His  face  was  turned  to- 
ward them.  They  were  afraid  of  nothing.  Sac- 
rifice was  easy.  Persecution  was  privilege.  Mar- 
tyrdom was  ecstasy.  They  stood  it  all,  and  died 
without  sob  or  tear  or  regret,  with  a  song  which 
ceased  not  until  their  pallid  lips  lost  the  power  of 
speech. 

The  Holy  Spirit  speaks  to  us  of  this  sublime 
hope.  It  proclaims  that  Christ  died,  and  predicts 
that  He  is  coming.  He  is  on  His  way.  He  is 
more  in  the  world  than  ever.  He  is  Christ  with 
a  future.     He  is  not  merely  a  dead^Cnrist  witn"a 


withered  wreath  on  the  closed  door  of  a  stone 
tomb,  but  He  is  a  living,  rejoicing,  conquering, 
coming  Christ,  with  a  crown  and  a  kingdom. 

Let  us  rejoice  and  be  confident,  as  we  eat  the 
bread  and  drink  the  cup ;  for  every  time  we  keep  the 


24  THE  HOLY  SUPPER 

Holy,  Supper,  faith  is  strengthened  and  courage 
increased.  All  the  sublime  values  of  the  Gospel 
are  certified  to  us  as  personal  and  present  as- 
sets. The  past  is  holy  and  the  future  secure.  We 
rise  with  the  morning  light  in  our  faces,  and  the 
coronation  hymn  on  our  lips.  Christ  is  coming. 
Hallelujah! 


Ill 

THE  MYSTICAL  FRIENDSHIP 

"  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye   do   whatsoever  I  command 
you." — John  15 :  14. 

JESUS  Speaks  of  the  mystical  friendship.  He 
does  not  mean  that  His  friendship  is  a  myth, 
for  no  friendship  is  less  mythical,  more  real, 
more  substantial.  He  means  that  His  friendship  is 
a  mystery,  and  a  mystery  not  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
mysterious,  obscure,  incomprehensible,  but  in  the 
sense  that  it  is  revealed.  It  is  a  thing  we  would 
never  have  known  unless  God  had  told  us  about  it. 
It  is  a  mystery  in  the  sense  Paul  meant  when, 
speaking  of  the  Christian's  immortality,  he  said: 
"  Behold,  I  shew  you  a  mystery,  a  holy  secret,  a 
divine  and  eternal  reality.  We  shall  not  all  sleep, 
but  we  shall  all  be  changed.**  In  this  sense,  Jesus* 
friendship  is  a  mystery,  a  holy  secret,  a  divine  and 
eternal  reality  God  has  revealed. 

It  is  a  sacramental  friendship,  for  it  is  a  friend- 
ship commemorated  each  time  faith  partakes  of 
the  sacred  emblems  of  the  Saviour's  passion.  Its 
love  glows  in  the  mystic,  hallowed  light  of  the 
Eucharist,  and  flames  in  lambent  devotion  around 
the  communion  table,  until  that  humble  altar  be- 
comes more  glorious  than  a  sapphire  throne,  and 

24 


26  THE  MYSTICAL  FRIENDSHIP 

its  sweet  content  fills  the  heart  with  a  deep  and 
eternal  peace. 

For  this  mystical  friendship  is  none  other  than 
the  friendship  between  the  divine  and  the  human, 
between  God  and  man,  between  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  and  sinners  forgiven.  Can  it  be  that  such 
a  friendship  exists?  Christ  declares  that  it  does. 
Revelation  lifts  the  veil,  and  says:  **  Behold,  I  shew 
you  a  mystery.  Ye  are  my  friends."  It  is  a  won- 
derful friendship. 

Christ  for  a  Friend 

It  is  a  blessed  thing  for  us  to  have  Christ  for  a 
friend, — not  a  judge,  not  a  far-off  personality 
veiled  in  awesome  authority,  not  merely  a  guide  or 
a  teacher,  not  only  a  Redeemer,  but  a  friend.  One 
good  friend  saves  the  day.  He  changes  the  world, 
and  makes  life  endurable.  I  recall  a  visit  a  home- 
sick Dane  once  made  me.  He  had  a  close  friend. 
They  had  become  estranged.  His  heart  was 
broken.  His  life  was  plunged  in  gloom.  He  was 
going  back  to  Denmark,  not  because  he  had  lost 
his  work  or  his  health,  but  because  he  had  lost  his 
friend.  What  a  privilege  to  have  for  your  friend 
the  Son  of  God,  the  supreme  Ruler  of  the  world! 

We  have  such  a  friend.  We  may  not  have 
many  other  friends.  We  may  have  few  worldly 
friends,  but  none  so  poor  and  humble  and  unat- 
tractive as  to  be  without  one  friend,  and  that  One 
the  best. 


THE  MYSTICAL  FEIENDSmP  27 

The  proof  of  Christ's  friendship  is  as  strong  as 
it  can  be  made.  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 
Christ  seems  to  say:  **  I  will  prove  to  you  that  I 
am  your  friend.  I  will  die  for  you,  dear  soul." 
And  He  did.  He  laid  down  His  life  for  us.  Can 
we  doubt  Him  after  this  ?  It  is  easier  to  doubt  the 
character  of  God  than  the  friendship  of  Jesus. 

This  is  the  message  of  the  sacrament.  It  speaks 
to  us  of  the  mystical  friendship.  It  declares  that 
Jesus  is  our  friend.  Do  you  need  a  friend  ?  There 
is  Jesus.  Do  you  need  someone  to  understand  and 
comfort  you?  There  is  Jesus.  Let  Him  be  your 
friend,  your  closest,  dearest  friend.  Tell  all  to 
Him.  Live  your  life  in  the  courage  of  this  faith, 
with  your  daily  experience  sweetened  and  sancti- 
fied by  the  mystical  friendship. 

"  What  a  friend  we  have  in  Jesus !  " 

Christ's  Friends 
It  is  a  holy  thing  for  Christ  to  have  us  for  His 
friends.  He  claims  us.  He  says:  "Ye  are  my 
friends."  He  says:  "Greater  love  hath  no  man 
than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his 
friends."  "  Therefore  I  am  your  friend."  But 
this  is  not  all.  "  Therefore  ye  are  my  friends, — 
not  my  servants,  my  subjects,  not  merely  my  apos- 
tles, my  disciples  and  ambassadors,  but  something 
better, — my  friends." 


28  THE  MYSTICAL  FEIENDSHIP' 

Have  I  ever  thought  of  myself  as  a  friend  of 
Christ  ?  He  is  mine,  but  am  I  His  ?  Have  others 
ever  thought  of  me  as  Christ's  friend?  As  they 
have  looked  at  me,  have  they  said :  "  There  goes  a 
friend  of  Jesus  Christ "  ?  Could  anything  finer 
ever  be  said  of  me?  Am  I  as  true  to  Him  as  He 
is  to  me  ?  Am  I  as  ready  to  confess  His  cause  as 
He  is  to  champion  mine  ?  Am  I  as  willing  to  lay 
down  my  life  for  Him  as  He  was  ready  to  lay 
down  His  life  for  me? 

He  has  told  us  the  proof  of  His  friendship  for 
us.  It  was  His  death.  He  has  also  told  us  the 
proof  of  our  friendship  for  Him.  We  are  to  do 
His  commandments.  Could  anything  be  simpler  ? 
We  are  just  to  do  His  will,  to  do  the  things  He 
told  us,  to  practise  His  teachings,  to  follow  in  His 
footsteps.  In  this  way  do  we  show  that  we  are 
His  friends.  Let  me  do  my  duty  as  it  comes  to 
me  day  by  day,  with  faith  in  Him,  and  I  am  His 
friend.  It  may  be  something  that  never  wins  a 
cheer  from  the  people  about  me,  but  if  It  pleases 
Him,  if  it  makes  Christ  happy,  my  reward  is  com- 
plete. 

The  sacrament  is  saying  this  also.  "  Ye  are 
Christ's  friends  If  ye  do  whatsoever  He  commands 
you."  Let  us  make  life  sacramental  with  this  re- 
solve. It  is  not  enough  to  offer  worship.  We 
must  also  do  His  will.  As  we  do,  the  little  deeds 
of  life,  like  the  bramble  on  SInal,  become  flaming 
shekinahs  out  of  which  God  speaks. 


THE  MYSTICAL  FEIENDSHIP  29 

The  Treasures  of  the  Mystical  Friendship 
Because  we  are  friends,  Christ  takes  us  into  His 
confidence.  He  says:  "  Henceforth  I  call  you  not 
servants,  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his 
Lord  doeth ;  but  I  have  called  you  friends,  for  all 
things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made 
known  unto  you.'*  He  shares  the  great  secrets  of 
the  universe  with  His  friends.  This  is  one  of  the 
tests  of  friendship.  There  must  be  absolute  confi- 
dence. Christ  gives  us  His.  Shall  I  decline  to 
give  Him  mine? 

Because  we  are  His  friends,  He  enriches  our 
lives,  and  makes  us  fruitful.  He  says:  "  Ye  have 
not  chosen  me,  but  I  have  chosen  you,  and  ordained 
you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth  fruit,  and 
that  your  fruit  should  remain."  As  we  do  His 
will,  life  is  saved  from  barrenness.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  be  useful.  It  is  necessary  only  to  do  the 
Saviour's  will.  Then  we  are  useful.  Then  do 
we  bring  forth  fruit,  and  our  fruit  abides  forever. 
The  fruits  of  the  mystical  friendship  never  wither. 
Anything  done  for  Christ  is  immortal. 

Because  we  are  His  friends,  Christ  invests  us 
with  influence,  so  that  whatsoever  we  ask  in  His 
name  is  given  us.  Christ  clothes  His  friends  with 
august  and  im.perial  power.  "  Whatsoever  "  is  a 
big  word  before  the  throne  of  the  Almighty.  No 
ambassador  was  ever  given  such  credentials.  No 
representative    of    royalty    ever    possessed    such 


30  THE  MYSTICAL  FEIENDSHIP 

boundless  influence.  Christ's  friends  need  only  to 
go  to  God  and  ask  what  they  will,  and  it  is  done. 

These  are  the  promises  of  which  the  sacrament 
is  the  seal.  If  the  sacred  symbols  of  the  Saviour's 
passion  had  a  tongue,  this  is  what  they  would  say. 
This  is  what  Christ  does  for  His  friends.  He 
takes  us  into  His  confidence.  Shall  we  decline  to 
let  Him?  He  makes  us  fruitful.  Shall  we  hinder 
His  gracious  desires?  He  invests  us  with  influ- 
ence.    Shall  we  limit  His  power? 

The  mystical  friendship  is  a  seraphic  friendship. 
Its  light  shines  around  the  communion  table.  Its 
song  is  musical  in  the  heart  that  yields  its  adoration 
at  the  altar  of  remembrance.  Christ  meets  us  in 
the  mystery  of  communion,  and  says:  "  I  am  your 
friend.  Ye  are  my  friends.  If  you  would  make 
me  happy,  do  the  things  I  command  you.  Doing 
them,  you  shall  know  all  that  God  has  told  me. 
You  shall  bring  forth  fruit  that  shall  abide,  and 
you  shall  have  power  to  sway  the  will  of  God  so 
that  whatsoever  you  ask  of  Him  shall  be  done." 

Oh,  to  be  a  friend  of  Christ,  just  a  friend  of 
Jesus  Christ,  a  good,  true,  faithful,  loyal,  constant 
friend  of  Him  Who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself 
for  me! 


IV 
CHRIST  LIVETH  IN  ME 

"I  am  crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me,  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me 
and  gave  himself  for  me." — Gai^atians  2 :  20. 

ON  July  1st,  1655,  John  Bradford  was 
burned  to  death.  He  was  chaplain  to 
King  Edward  Sixth  of  England,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  of  his  day.  But 
he  was  a  martyr  to  his  faith.  As  he  was  being 
driven  out  to  Newgate  to  be  burned,  permission 
was  given  him  to  speak,  and  from  the  wagon  in 
which  he  rode  to  his  death  the  entire  way  out  from 
West  London  to  Newgate  he  shouted :  "  Christ, 
Christ,  none  but  Christ!"  John  Bradford  was 
feeling  very  much  as  Paul  must  have  felt  when 
he  wrote  this  sublime  line  which  will  be  our  com- 
munion meditation.  Only  with  Paul,  it  was  not 
the  outburst  of  a  spasmodic  elation,  but  the  ex- 
pression of  a  life  habit.  "  I  am  crucified  with 
Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me,  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the 
f^esh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me.*' 

Here  are  five  startling  statements,  in  each  of 

31 


82  CHRIST  LIVETH  IN  MB 

which  a  man  reaches  out  into  the  infinite  and  lays 
hold  of  the  eternal. 

Crucified  With  Christ 

"  I  am  crucified  with  Christ."  What  a  daring 
thing  for  a  man  to  say !  Christ  had  been  crucified. 
He  had  climbed  the  lonely  thorn-path  to  that  hill- 
top crowned  with  a  cross.  He  had  hung  in  sacri- 
ficial agony  on  the  accursed  tree.  The  nails  had 
been  driven  through  His  hands  and  feet.  The 
thorns  had  pierced  His  brow,  and  the  spear-head 
had  torn  open  His  side.  In  the  midnight  of  His 
passion  for  men,  His  anguished  soul  had  cried: 
**  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 

And  now  Paul  is  saying:  "  I  was  there  on  the 
cross  with  Christ.  I  am  crucified  with  Him. 
Every  throb  of  ag^ny  He  felt  I  have  suffered. 
The  nails  have  been  driven  into  my  hands  and  feet. 
The  thorns  have  pierced  my  brow.  Into  my  side, 
too,  the  spear  has  entered,  and  I  have  had  moments 
when  I  could  understand  that  lonely  cry  of  the  for- 
saken Christ.  It  is  my  cross  as  well  as  His. 
Look,  I  bear  about  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus." 

It  was  a  devoted  soul  struggling  to  say  how  he 
loved  his  Master,  declaring  that  he  was  so  utterly 
identified  with  Christ  as  to  be  a  partaker  of  His 
passion,  as  to  be  branded  with  the  marks  and 
wounds  of  Calvary.  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ." 
Can  we  say  it?    Has  there  ever  been  a  single  mo- 


CHEIST  LIVETH  IN  ME  .38 

merit  when  we  were  so  lost  in  the  Saviour  as  to  be 
able  to  say:  **  Christ,  Christ,  none  but  Christ!  '* 

"  Nevertheless  I   Live  " 

But  the  cross  did  not  kill  Christ.  It  immortal- 
ized Him.  His  enemies  thought  they  were  putting 
an  end  to  His  influence.  They  were  only  clearing 
the  way  for  Christ  to  take  the  throne.  But  for 
His  crucifixion,  He  would  soon  have  ceased  to  live. 
In  a  little  while  He  would  have  been  forgotten. 

Paul  is  saying:  "  I  thought  I  was  dying  when 
they  crucified  me  with  Christ,  but  I  find  that  what 
I  took  to  be  the  door  of  death  was  the  gate  of  life. 
I  have  never  been  so  much  alive.  I  have  become 
deathless.  My  foes  are  powerless  to  hurt  me. 
Death  itself  is  disarmed.  I  walk  through  the  val- 
ley of  death,  nevertheless  I  live." 

The  cross  cannot  kill  Christ's  friends.  It  is  not 
the  symbol  of  death,  but  of  life.  It  is  the  badge 
of  immortality.  Those  who  die  for  a  great  cause 
do  not  die.  They  are  alive  forevermore.  Death 
has  not  defeated  them.  It  has  only  cleared  the 
way  to  the  throne. 

"  Christ  Liveth  In  Me  " 

"Yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  Paul 
seems  to  say:  "  I  am  the  same  man  that  I  was  be- 
fore I  was  crucified  with  Christ,  yet  I  am  very 
different.     I  am  a  new  man.     I  live  because  1  am 


84  CHEIST  LIYETH  IK  MB 

the  incarnation  of  Him  Who  is  the  source  of  life. 
I  can  never  die,  because  Christ  Uveth  in  me." 

Think  of  the  Hfe  one  should  live  who  has  come 
down  from  the  cross  to  this  subUme  experience, 
who  has  made  the  marvellous  discovery  that  Christ 
lives  in  him,  who  has  in  his  own  life  experience 
the  irrefutable  proof  that  Christ  is  risen!  Such 
an  one  must  live  as  Christ  lived.  If  Christ  lives 
in  him,  he  must  think  as  Christ  would  think,  and 
suffer  as  Christ  would  suffer,  and  serve  as  Christ 
would  serve.  His  sole  concern  must  be:  "  What 
would  Christ  have  me  do  ?  " 

Would  you  like  to  be  able  to  say:  "  Christ  liveth 
in  me  "  ?  You  can  never  say  it  until  you  have  been 
to  Calvary,  until  you  have  been  crucified  with 
Christ.  Nor  can  you  ever  say  it  unless  you  are 
willing  to  live  His  life  and  think  His  thoughts  and 
share  His  suffering,  unless  you  are  willing  to  take 
up  your  cross  and  follow  Him.  "  Christ  liveth  in 
me."  My,  how  Paul  is  climbing!  His  hands  are 
on  the  throne  itself.  It  is  so  with  all  within  whom 
Christ  lives. 

"I  Live  By  Faith" 

"And  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live 
by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  This  is  his  ex- 
planation of  his  sublime  experience.  He  seems  to 
say:  "  You  are  asking  how  Christ  lives  in  me.  It 
is  simple.  It  is  the  result  of  faith.  I  am  still 
living  an  earthly  life.     I  am  human.     I  am  no  an- 


CHRIST  LIVETH  IN  MB  35 

gel.  I  am  far  from  being  a  saint.  I  am  in  the 
flesh.  I  am  subject  to  law,  and  beset  by  tempta- 
tions, and  hedged  about  by  limitations,  and  forever 
struggling  against  the  foes  of  my  spirit.  I  am  no 
wraith,  but  a  man  with  all  the  frailties  and  faults 
of  an  ordinary  mortal.  But  this  flesh  life  that  I 
live,  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  and  because 
I  have  faith  in  Him,  He  lives  in  me." 

Faith  is  the  way  we  enter  into  the  life  of  God. 
Faith  is  the  secret  of  everything  that  is  great.  It 
reaches  out  into  the  infinite.  It  touches  omnipo- 
tence and  omniscience  and  omnipresence.  It  has 
contact  with  the  eternal.  We  are  still  in  the  flesh. 
The  voices  of  the  flesh  are  crying  in  our  blood.  But 
we  do  not  believe  in  the  flesh.  We  believe  in  the 
Son  of  God.  That  is  creed  enough,  just  to  believe 
in  Him  enough  to  be  willing  to  share  His  cross 
with  Him.  That  is  theology  enough.  With  such 
a  faith  as  this,  the  comm.onplace  becomes  the  vesti- 
bule of  divinity. 

"  By  faith  I  am  crucified  with  Christ.  By  faith 
death  is  vanquished.  By  faith  Christ  liveth  in  me. 
For  the  life  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  faith 
in  Him.  As  I  go  about  my  daily  work,  as  I  walk 
the  streets  and  meet  my  fellows,  as  I  live  this  flesh 
life,  I  live  not  as  an  angel,  for  I  am  far  from  be- 
ing sanctified,  but  I  do  live  by  faith.  I  so  utterly 
believe  in  the  Son  of  God  that  He  has  become  a 
part  of  me,  that  He  has  become  my  life,  until  His 
very  wounds  are  mine." 


36  CHEIST  LIVETH  IN  ME 

"  Who  Loved  Me  and  Gave  Himself  for  Me  ** 
The  secret  is  out.  It  is  love.  That  is  what  is 
back  of  faith.  As  Paul  closes  the  sentence,  he 
gives  the  secret  away.  There  is  a  man  hanging 
on  a  cross,  but  behind  the  cross  is  a  man  death 
cannot  kill,  and  behind  the  man  death  cannot  kill 
is  Christ,  and  behind  Christ  is  faith,  and  behind 
faith  is  love.  Because  there  is  love,  it  is  easy  to 
have  faith,  and  because  there  is  faith,  it  is  easy  to 
have  Christ,  and  because  there  is  Christ,  it  is  easy 
to  have  life,  and  because  there  is  life,  the  cross  is 
not  defeat,  but  victory.  "  Who  loved  me  and  gave 
himself  for  me." 

It  is  not  hard  to  believe  in  one  who  does  that  for 
you.  It  is  easy  to  trust  someone  who  thinks  more 
of  you  than  of  his  own  life.  "  Greater  love  hath 
no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for 
his  friends."  Paul  is  saying  that  as  he  saw  Christ 
hanging  on  the  tree,  he  discovered  that  He  was 
dying  for  him.  Then  he  said  to  himself:  "  I  must 
hang  beside  Him."  And  so  he  took  his  place  be- 
side Christ  on  the  cross,  and  as  he  did  that,  he 
found  that  Christ  was  not  only  dying  for  him,  but 
living  in  him. 

Christ  is  the  secret.  Thinking  about  Him, 
dwelling  with  Him,  following  Him,  preaching 
Him,  loving  Him,  until  you  are  like  Him, — this  is 
the  purpose  of  communion.  The  sacramental  sym- 
bols are  saying:  "  He  loved  me  and  gave  himself 
for  me."     They  disclose  the  eternal  secret. 


CHEIST  LIYETH  IN  ME  37 

Has  that  secret  found  expression  in  my  experi- 
ence ?  Does  Christ  live  in  me  ?  As  I  drive  down 
the  street  to-morrow,  is  it  with  me:  "  Christ, 
Christ,  none  but  Christ !  "  As  I  go  about  my  work 
does  Christ  live  in  me  ?  Do  men  meet  Christ  when 
they  meet  me?  This  is  where  God  expects  the 
world  to  find  Christ  to-day — in  the  lives  of  His  fol- 
lowers. When  Michael  Angelo  painted  his  great 
pictures  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome,  instead  of 
painting  them  on  the  walls  of  the  chapel  he  fres- 
coed the  ceiling  with  these  marvellous  creations  of 
his  art.  And  yet  when  the  people  go  there  to  gaze 
at  the  pictures,  they  do  not  look  up,  but  down.  At 
the  door  each  one,  as  he  enters,  is  given  a  small 
mirror,  and  as  he  walks  about  he  studies  the  won- 
derful pictures  in  the  dome  as  they  are  reflected  in 
the  little  mirror  which  he  holds  in  his  hand.  Christ 
has  gone  up  into  the  heavens,  but  the  mirror  is  on 
earth.  "  Ye  are  my  witnesses."  Oh,  that  they 
may  see  Him  in  my  life!  If  so,  I  must  share  Cal- 
vary with  Him.  I,  too,  must  be  able  to  say:  "  I 
am  crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet 
not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  In  me,  and  the  life  which  I 
now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of 
God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." 


V 

THE  GLORY  OF  THE  CROSS 

"  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory^  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."— Qai^miahs  6 :  14. 

AFTER  much  discussion  and  prolonged  ar- 
gument about  things  not  easy  to  under- 
stand, this  is  the  conclusion  Paul  reaches. 
Is  it  a  sane  conclusion? 

Is  the  apostle  level-headed  or  flighty  in  his  deter- 
mination to  glory  in  the  cross?  Is  his  statement 
sound  sense  or  a  spasm  of  hysterics?  No  doubt 
the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  his  day  thought 
Paul  beside  himself.  In  deference  to  public  opin- 
ion, he  himself  seems  to  admit  it,  when  he  declares: 
*'  I  have  become  a  fool  in  glorying." 

Then  the  cross  was  a  badge  of  shame.  It  was  a 
stone  of  stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offense.  The 
world  regarded  it  very  much  as  we  now  regard  the 
gallows.  It  was  a  mark  of  infamy,  a  symbol  of 
the  penalty  for  the  worst  of  crimes.  It  was  the 
fate  society  visited  on  those  who  were  too  danger- 
ous to  be  kept  in  prison,  and  too  bad  to  be  allowed 
to  live.  There  is  no  glory  in  this  sort  of  thing. 
We  would  call  the  man  crazy  who  would  boast  of 
the  gallows,  who  would  take  pride  in  suffering  the 
severest  penalty  the  law   inflicts   on  red-handed 

38 


THE  GLOBY  OF  THE  CEOSS  39 

transgression.  If  this  is  what  Paul  means,  he  has 
worse  than  hysterics.     It  is  not  what  he  means. 

He  had  seen  the  cross  in  the  Hght  of  Calvary, 
haloed  with  the  love  which  redeems  the  world, 
consecrated  by  the  sufferings  not  of  a  criminal,  but 
of  a  Saviour,  Who  makes  bad  people  good,  rights 
wrong,  comforts  sorrow,  and  banishes  evil  from 
the  world.  He  saw  the  cross  as  the  symbol  of  the 
sufferings  of  God  for  His  wayward  and  wandering 
children.  He  heard  there  the  call  of  the  Father 
for  His  own.  He  beheld  the  cross,  not  as  the  sym- 
bol of  the  penalty  society  inflicts  on  the  worst,  but 
as  a  token  of  the  sufferings  of  the  holiest  and  best 
to  save  the  worst.  He  saw  it  as  Christ  had  trans- 
formed it,  into  a  sign  of  heroic  self-sacrifice,  and 
he  said:  "  I  glory  in  that!  " 

Is  this  the  boast  of  a  crazy  man?  Is  it  wild  and 
fanatical?  Is  it  flighty  and  hysterical?  Is  it  the 
mood  of  a  man  w^hose  emotions  have  swept  him 
from  the  moorings  of  sound  judgment  and  ordi- 
nary sanity? 

Hero  Worship 
What  is  more  glorious  than  true  heroism  and 
real  sacrifice  ?  The  world  worships  heroism.  The 
religion  of  the  people  is  still  hero  worship,  and  it 
is  not  a  bad  religion.  It  would  be  a  tame,  stale 
world  were  heroism  and  sacrifice  to  go  out  of 
fashion,  were  deeds  that  are  daring  and  dangerous 
and  difficult  no  longer  to  be  applauded. 


40     THE  GLORY  OF  THE  CROSS 

It  IS  simply  the  glory  of  heroism,  of  dangerous 
and  daring  adventure,  that  the  world  worships  to- 
day,— now  of  a  man  who  flies  in  an  airship,  now 
of  a  crew  who  cross  the  ocean  in  a  submarine, 
again  of  an  explorer  who  three  centuries  ago 
pushed  out  into  the  wide,  wild,  trackless  sea  in  a 
frail  boat,  and  again  of  those  who  fight  their  way 
through  fields  of  arctic  ice  and  across  perilous 
leads  to  the  top  of  the  world.  The  story  of  Henry 
Hudson  is  not  the  story  of  a  man  discovering  a 
river.  Anybody  might  do  that.  The  discovery 
of  the  North  River  was  a  mere  incident  of  Hud- 
son's career.  The  real  story  is  that  of  a  bold  ex- 
plorer who  adventured  an  unknown  world  ocean 
on  a  tiny  craft,  and  who  died  at  last  on  the  frozen 
sea  in  quest  of  a  northwest  passage. 

The  glory  of  the  bold  explorers  who  ever  and 
again  hold  the  centre  of  the  stage  as  the  world  lis- 
tens to  their  story  of  hardship  and  heroism  in  quest 
of  the  earth's  poles  is  not  that  they  have  added  any- 
thing to  the  world's  wealth  or  happiness.  They 
have  opened  no  new  continent  whither  the  down- 
trodden and  oppressed  of  earth  may  flee  for  ref- 
uge. They  have  made  no  valuable  contribution  to 
the  solution  of  the  great  problems  of  government 
and  trade  and  social  life.  The  world  admires 
them  because  they  have  done  or  seem  to  have  done 
a  hard  thing.  They  have  been  daring  enough  to 
jeopardize  life  in  a  difficult  enterprise. 

This  on  a  divine  scale  is  the  fascination  of  the 


THE  GLORY  OF  THE  CROSS     41 

cross  of  Christ.  The  cross  is  the  world's  finest 
symbol  of  heroism.  It  is  the  highest  expression 
of  the  life  laid  down.  It  is  the  loftiest  standard  of 
unselfish  service  and  sacrifice. 

The  cross  is  more  than  this.  It  does  not  stand 
for  mere  spectacular  sacrifice,  for  ordinary  news- 
paper heroism,  for  a  barren  exploit  ending  in  fire- 
works and  a  dinner  party.  Calvary  is  not  stagy. 
Its  publicity  is  not  intentional  but  incidental.  Jesus 
did  not  die  just  to  be  dying.  He  died  to  bless  peo- 
ple, to  make  the  bad  good,  to  heal  the  open  sore  of 
the  world  and  banish  evil  from  mankind.  There 
is  no  such  heroism  as  that  of  the  Man  of  Galilee, 
and  the  thought  of  it  down  the  ages  has  been  stir- 
ring the  sluggish  pulses  of  a  dying  world,  and  lift- 
ing men  to  high  ideals  and  noble  deeds.  Little 
wonder  that  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  of  men 
should  say:  "  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save 
in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  " 

What  Christianity  needs  to-day  is  a  fresh  infu- 
sion of  the  heroic.  It  has  grown  soft  and  flabby 
with  success.  A  cheap  religion  will  never  save  the 
world.  Ease  and  self-indulgence  cannot  speak  to 
men  in  the  tones  of  Calvary.  The  religion  of  the 
future,  like  the  religion  of  the  past,  will  be  hero 
worship. 

The  cross  stands  for  the  heroism  of  God,  Who 
did  not  spare  Himself  in  the  hardest  thing  ever  at- 
tempted by  God  or  man.  Paul  was  not  glorying 
in  his  own  cross.     He  was  not  proud  of  crosses. 


42     THE  GLORY  OF  THE  CBOSS 

of  petty  trials,  of  daily  vexations.  It  was  the  cross 
of  Christ  that  held  him.  It  was  that  cross  on  the 
lonely  hilltop  where  hung  One  Who  being  God  be- 
came man,  Who  though  rich  became  poor,  Who 
took  the  great  world  up  into  His  heart,  Who  hav- 
ing lived  the  sweetest,  fairest  life,  died  the  saddest 
and  most  shameful  death  just  to  help  people,  to 
comfort  them  and  save  them  from  despair. 

Paul  says :  '*  This  is  the  thing  in  which  I  glory, 
and  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  in  anything 
else !  "  I  think  he  had  his  wits  about  him.  We 
can  afford  to  be  enthusiastic  over  the  cross.  If 
there  is  anything  glorious,  it  is  the  cross.  If  there 
is  anything  worth  living  for  and  giving  to  and  dy- 
ing for,  it  is  the  cross.  If  there  is  aught  to  which 
we  may  proclaim  allegiance  without  a  blush,  and 
to  which  we  may  anchor  our  eternal  hopes  without 
a  fear,  it  is  the  cross.  Glorious  cross!  *'A11  the 
light  of  sacred  story  gathers  round  its  head  sub- 
lime!" 

Applause  of  the  Cross 
The  holy  communion  is  the  Church's  solemn 
applause  of  the  cross.  In  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  we  commend  the  sacrificial  heroism 
of  the  world's  Redeemer.  If  we  are  sincere  as  we 
take  the  bread  and  wine,  it  is  just  a  way  we  have 
of  saying:  "  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save 
in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  "  Save  in 
the  heroism  and  sacrifice  of  Him  Who  died  to  find 


THE  GLOEY  OF  THE  CROSS     43 

me,  Who  gave  His  life  to  discover  my  lost  soul 
amid  the  barren  wilds !  Have  we  made  the  vow  ? 
Are  we  praying,  not  for  ease  or  success,  but  for  a 
soul  great  enough  to  appreciate  Calvary?  The 
communion  is  a  call  to  get  away  from  the  shop  and 
mart  and  desk  and  tools  and  little  time  plans,  and 
survey  the  wondrous  cross  on  which  the  Saviour 
gave.  His  life.  As  that  cross  casts  its  spell  over  us, 
**  our  richest  gains  we  count  but  loss,  and  pour 
contempt  on  all  our  pride." 

Let  us  understand  that  glorying,  to  be  genuine, 
must  be  more  than  a  phrase.  For  one  to  say,  *'  I 
glory,"  means  far  more  than  for  him  to  say,  "  I 
approve;  I  am  pleased;  I  am  proud;  I  boast."  It 
is  comparatively  easy  to  do  that  with  Calvary.  It 
is  not  hard  to  stand  off  and  gaze  at  it  and  say  fine 
things  about  it,  and  say  it  is  wonderful,  it  is  great 
and  glorious.  But  that  is  not  what  Paul  meant. 
He  meant,  "  I  am  ready  to  be  offered ;  I  yearn  to 
experience  the  cross."  Glory  is  a  word  for  char- 
acter. When  a  man  says:  "God  forbid  that  I 
should  glory  save  in  the  cross,"  he  is  praying  that 
the  cross  may  become  a  personal  experience. 

We  are  beginning  now  to  see  what  he  meant. 
He  was  dead  in  earnest.  He  was  making  a  great 
vow  that  he  could  pay  only  with  his  life.  Am  I 
ready  to  make  it,  and  in  the  same  great  way  ?  God 
forbid  that  I  should  seek  a  life  of  ease,  of  selfish- 
ness, of  vain  pleasures,  of  worldly  fame  and  gaudy 
show!     God   forbid  that  I  should  draw  back  at 


44      THE  GLOEY  OF  THE  CROSS 

hardship,  or  protest  at  self-denial!  There  stands 
the  cross.  Let  me  experience  it.  Let  me  taste  its 
passions.  Let  me  be  swayed  by  its  power.  Let 
me  live  it  and  prove  its  reality. 

It  is  not  easy.  It  is  easy  to  sing:  "  In  the  cross 
of  Christ  I  glory,"  but  to  live  that  song  is  not  easy. 
May  God  grant  grace  to  live  it!  In  the  hallowed 
hush  of  a  mystic  communion  with  Him  Who  has 
made  the  hated  cross  the  radiant  symbol  of  the 
world's  sublimest  heroism  and  holiest  sacrifice, 
may  my  halting  lips  try  to  make  the  prayer  of  the 
cross !  *'  Gk>d  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save  in 
the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  " 


VI 

THE  POWER  OF  THE  CROSS 

"Atid  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me.  This  he  said,  signifying  what  death  he  should 
die/'—JoHN  12:32,33. 

ONE  of  the  loveliest  girls  of  the  city  died  in 
the  morning  of  life.  She  had  all  the 
world  could  give  to  make  life  happy,  and 
she  had  v^hat  the  world  could  not  give  nor  take 
away.  The  most  precious  thing  she  left,  though, 
was  a  little  note-book  in  which  from  time  to  time 
she  had  written  down  the  things  which  had  made 
the  strongest  appeal  to  her  deepest  nature.  In 
conducting  the  funeral,  I  read  some  quotations 
from  this  little  book.  They  revealed  the  girl's  in- 
ner life.  They  lifted  the  veil  from  her  soul.  They 
proclaimed  her  ideals.  The  very  last  line  she  had 
written  was  this:  "The  power  of  the  cross  is  the 
greatest  power  on  earth."  There  is  no  profounder 
truth. 

This  was  Christ's  own  estimate  of  the  cross. 
Jesus  did  not  shun  the  cross.  He  sought  it.  He 
felt  that  He  could  never  succeed  without  it.  He 
might  teach  and  preach  and  heal,  but  if  He  was  to 
save,  He  must  reach  the  cross.  This  is  what  He 
meant  by  being  lifted  up  from  the  earth.     He  is 

45 


46     THE  POWER  OF  THE  CROSS 

speaking  of  His  crucifixion.  He  is  saying:  "  My 
goal  is  Calvary.  My  crown  is  a  chaplet  of  thorns. 
My  throne  is  a  cross." 

He  felt  the  same  way  about  His  disciples.  He 
saw  no  future  for  them  apart  from  the  cross.  If 
they  were  to  save  the  world,  they  must  travel  to 
Calvary  and  wear  the  tliorns,  too.  If  they  were 
to  overcome  the  world,  they  must  manage  some- 
how to  get  themselves  crucified.  And  so  He  said 
to  them:  "  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him 
deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
me. 

The  world  is  coming  to  see  it  as  Christ  saw  it. 
Three  hundred  years  had  not  gone  by  before  the 
Roman  Emperor  saw  it,  and  tearing  down  the 
eagle,  he  let  fly  the  cross,  declaring:  "  In  this  sign 
we  conquer!  "  To-day  the  symbolism  of  the  cross 
is  written  over  all  the  struggles  men  are  making 
for  a  better  world.  It  is  our  emblem  of  hope.  It 
is  our  badge  of  immortality.  It  is  our  decoration 
of  honour.  It  marks  the  road  to  glory  and  to  God. 
Yes,  the  power  of  the  cross  is  the  greatest  power 
on  earth.  Those  who  ignore  the  cross  miss  the 
best.  Those  who  deny  it  are  doomed  to  defeat. 
Those  who  despise  it  are  lost  already. 

What  is  the  power  of  the  cross  ? 

Surrender 

It  IS  the  power  of  surrender.  Follow  Christ 
into  the  garden  on   the  night   of   the   betrayal. 


THE  POWER  OP  THE  CEOSS  47 

Watch  Him  as  He  wins  His  great  victory.  The 
conflict  is  sore.  The  sweat  is,  as  it  were,  great 
drops  of  blood  pouring  to  the  ground.  But  as  He. 
says:  "  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done,"  the  tri- 
umph is  complete  and  the  adversary  is  vanquished. 
There  is  power  in  surrender,  in  what  you  give 
up,  in  being  big  enough  to  determine  not  to  have 
your  own  way.  There  is  power  not  in  resistance, 
but  in  dependence;  not  in  striking  back,  but  in 
yielding;  not  in  crushing,  but  in  clinging.  This 
was  the  discovery  Jacob  made  as  he  wrestled  that 
fateful  night  with  the  angel  at  the  brook.  The 
power  of  victory  came  to  him  when  ceasing  to  con- 
tend, he  began  to  cling. 


Suffering 

It  is  the  power  of  suffering.  Calvary  is  a  story 
of  suffering.  Christ's  sufferings  were  real.  He 
was  not  an  actor.  His  agonies  were  more  than 
physical.  Calvary  was  the  agony  of  a  great  soul 
making  propitiation.  Its  loneliness  was  the  soli- 
tude of  a  mighty  spirit  breaking  away  out  of  the 
night's  darkness  for  others.  It  was  the  loneliness 
of  the  great-hearted  Christ,  crying:  "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 

There  is  power  in  what  you  suffer.  We  think 
of  suffering  as  a  sign  of  weakness.  Christ  thought 
of  it  as  an  evidence  of  power.  It  is  the  price  that 
must  be  paid  for  life.     Every  mother  pays  this 


48  THE  POWER  OP  THE  CROSS 

price  for  the  baby  that  cries  in  her  arms.  Christ, 
Who  took  the  world  on  His  heart  as  He  hung  on 
the  cross,  was  paying  this  price,  for  it  says:  "  He 
shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul."  The  power  of 
the  cross  is  the  power  of  suffering,  of  those  who 
have  gone  up  through  great  tribulation,  and 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  It  is  only  the  souls  that  trav- 
ail that  possess  the  power  which  is  to  bring  in  the 
new  day. 

Sacrifice 

It  is  the  power  of  sacrifice.  Christ  put  Himself 
aside.  He  possessed  all  the  powers  of  Godhood, 
and  used  them  for  others,  but  never  for  Himself. 
He  could  make  bread  with  words,  but  He  never 
turned  a  stone  to  bread  to  satisfy  His  own  hunger. 
He  could  raise  the  dead.  But  He  never  lifted  a 
finger  to  staunch  His  own  wounds.  One  of  the 
sublimest  things  ever  written  of  Him  is  this: 
"  Who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of 
no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and 
being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled 
himself  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the 
death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  God  hath  also 
highly  exalted  him." 

There  is  power  in  sacrifice,  in  what  you  give  up 
rather  than  what  you  claim,  in  what  you  lose  rather 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  CROSS  49 

than  in  what  you  gain,  in  doing  your  duty  rather 
than  in  claiming  your  rights,  in  stepping  down 
rather  than  in  pushing  up.  So  the  marching  order 
for  the  kingdom  takes  us  to  the  cross.  If  you 
want  power,  you  must  let  go. 

Service 

It  is  the  power  of  service.  Christ  did  not  suffer 
just  to  be  suffering.  His  agony  was  not  spectacu- 
lar. Calvary  was  not  an  exhibition.  It  was  an 
experience.  It  was  not  sacrifice  to  achieve  merit, 
but  to  provide  redemption.  He  suffered  to  keep 
others  from  suffering.  He  sacrificed  that  others 
might  not  be  condemned.  He  died  that  the  con- 
demned might  be  forgiven.  The  cross  is  the  sym- 
bol not  of  penance,  but  of  service.  Jesus  hung  on 
the  cross  that  one  who  is  in  a  far  country  might 
find  the  way  back  to  the  Father's  house.  In  the 
very  act  of  expiation,  Jesus,  forgetting  Himself, 
lifts  nail-pierced  hands  to  open  the  door  for  a  peni- 
tent thief  to  pass  into  Paradise. 

There  is  power  in  service,  in  what  you  do  for 
others.  He  is  greatest  who  is  a  servant.  "  I  am 
among  you  as  one  that  serveth."  This  is  the  way 
a  God  talks,  and  those  who  are  made  on  such  a 
measure  are  the  heroes  men  to-day  adore. 

Love 
It  is  the  power  of  love.     Love  is  the  greatest 


60  THE  POWER  OF  THE  CROSS 

thing  in  the  world.  Love  seems  weakest,  but  is 
strongest.  God  is  love.  The  resistless  power  of 
the  cross  is  the  matchless  winsomeness  of  love. 
Christ  loves  us  into  goodness.  This  is  the  secret 
of  becoming  Godlike. 

If  you  want  power,  you  must  love.  The  power 
of  hate  is  the  power  to  hurt,  to  destroy,  to  damn. 
Such  power  is  doomed.  The  power  love  has  is  the 
power  to  help,  to  reclaim,  to  redeem.  Such  power 
is  immortal.  The  power  of  hate  is  the  power  of 
the  wind.  The  power  of  love  is  the  power  of  the 
sun.  The  wind  destroys  and  exhausts  itself.  The 
sun  warms  and  comforts  and  brings  life  to  the 
world. 

Death 

It  is  the  power  of  dying.  The  power  of  the 
cross  is  not  the  power  of  being  dead,  but  of  dying. 
Christ  died  and  is  alive  forevermore.  There  is  no 
death  to  the  Christian,  and  yet  there  is  no  escape 
from  dying.  Christ's  death  on  the  cross  was  not 
the  cessation  of  physical  functions.  It  was  the  ex- 
perience of  His  great  soul  in  expiation.  It  was 
something  like  this  that  Paul  had  in  mind  when  he 
said:  "I  die  daily." 

There  is  power  in  dying  daily.  There  is  power 
in  living  the  cross,  in  climbing  on  the  stepping- 
stones  of  your  dead  self  to  higher  things.  It  is  on 
the  stones  of  surrender  and  suffering  and  sacrifice 
and  service  and  love  that  the  soul  climbs  to  power. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  CEOSS  51 

"  For  thus  looking  within  and  around 
Do  we  ever  renew 
With  that  stoop  of  the  soul 
Which  in  bending  upraises  it,  too, 
The  submission  of  man's  nothing  perfect 
To  God's  all  complete, 
As  by  each  new  obeisance  of  spirit 
We  climb  to  His  feet." 

These  are  some  of  the  elements  of  power  in  the 
cross.  There  is  no  greater  power  on  earth  nor  in 
heaven.  No  wonder  over  the  graves  of  the  sol- 
diers love  plants  a  cross.  It  is  more  than  a  symbol 
of  death  or  an  emblem  of  hope.  It  is  a  sign  of 
power.  It  is  a  way  of  saying  that  the  soldiers  who 
fought  and  died  that  the  world  might  be  free  have 
not  suffered  defeat.  The  long  rows  of  white 
crosses  make  their  mute  appeal  to  mankind,  and 
are  themselves  clothed  with  a  power  that  is  in- 
vincible. In  those  fields  of  crosses  there  is  more 
power  than  in  all  palaces  and  arsenals.  There  is 
the  hillcrest  from  which,  like  Calvary,  a  great  sac- 
rifice looks  down  with  a  summons  that  cannot  be 
resisted.  It  is  a  kind  of  prophecy  that  the  cross 
will  yet  break  down  the  walls  of  hate,  and  drav^ 
men  into  the  fraternity  of  good  will.  For  "greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this." 

It  IS  to  keep  all  this  forever  in  mind  that  the 
Holy  Supper  was  instituted.  It  is  the  sacrament 
of  the  cross.  It  is  a  picture  story  of  the  greatest 
power  on  earth.     As  we  partake  of  the  sacred  em- 


62     THE  POWER  OF  THE  CROSS 

blems  of  Christ's  passion,  let  us  salute  the  cross. 
Let  us  hail  its  mighty  power.  Let  us  surrender  to 
its  holy  influence.  **And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me.  This  He 
said  signifying  what  death  He  should  die." 

**  When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross 
On  which  the  Prince  of  glory  died, 
My  richest  gains  I  count  but  loss, 
And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride." 


VII 

CROSS-BEARING 

"They  found  a  man  of  Cyrene,  Simon  by  name.    Him  they 
compelled  to  bear  his  cross"— MATruzw  27 :  32. 

CHRIST  is  on  His  way  to  Calvary.  He  is 
going  out  to  Calvary  to  be  crucified,  to 
have  the  nails  driven  through  His  hands 
and  feet,  to  have  an  ugly  gash  torn  in  His  side  by 
a  Roman  spear-head,  to  wear  a  crown  of  thorns, 
and  to  hang  on  a  cruel  cross  until  death  comes  to 
lower  the  curtain  on  His  pain.  He  has  had  a  hard 
night.  He  has  had  no  sleep.  He  came  straight 
from  the  agony  i;n  Gethsemane  to  His  trial,  which 
lasted  through  the  remaining  hours  of  that  awful 
night,  and  when  day  came,  it  brought  only  the 
rough  abuse  of  crafty  foes  and  the  jeers  and  insults 
of  a  heartless  mob.  Worn,  haggard,  spent,  loaded 
down  with  the  cross  on  which  He  is  to  die,  Jesus 
staggers  out  toward  Calvary.  He  stumbles  and 
falls  from  sheer  weakness.  They  drag  Him  to 
His  feet,  but  He  stumbles  again,  and  again  He 
falls.  He  cannot  rise  now.  His  strength  is  gone. 
There  He  lies  with  the  curious  crowd  looking  on. 
It  was  a  sight  to  make  the  angels  of  heaven  weep. 
It  all  happened  at  the  gate  as  they  were  going 
out     There  they  met  a  man  who  was  coming  in. 

53 


54  CEOSS-BEARING 

He  had  been  out  in  the  country,  and  he  was  coming 
into  the  city.  I  Hke  to  think  that  he  had  no  hand 
in  that  wild  night  of  infamy  and  hate,  that  his 
voice  was  not  mingled  with  the  cries  of  those  who 
shouted:  "  Crucify  Him!  "  and  that  his  soul  was 
not  stained  with  innocent  blood.  His  name  was 
Simon.  He  was  from  Cyrene,  in  Northern  Africa. 
Whether  a  visitor  at  the  feast  or  a  member  of  the 
Cyrenean  colony  dwelling  in  Jerusalem,  we  do  not 
know;  but  he  was  coming  in  as  the  death  guard 
was  going  out.  And  they  lift  the  cross  from  the 
fallen  Christ,  and  lay  it  on  the  strong  shoulders  of 
the  man  of  Cyrene. 

And  now  they  are  going  on  toward  Calvary. 
Christ  is  on  His  feet  again,  and  the  man  who  car- 
ries His  cross  walks  beside  Him.  There  they  go 
together,  Christ  and  His  cross-bearer,  the  Saviour 
Who  directly  will  be  nailed  to  His  death  on  the 
cross  and  from  Whose  dying  lips  will  sound  the 
loneliest  sob  that  ever  broke  the  silence  of  despair, 
and  beside  Him  the  man  whose  strong  shoulders 
have  taken  from  His  broken  and  spent  body  its 
weary  load. 

I  wonder  what  passed  between  those  two  as 
they  went  out  to  Calvary.  I  am  not  curious  to 
know  what  the  soldiers  said,  nor  am  I  interested 
in  that  shoddy  rabble  that  dogged  His  steps;  but 
I  am  interested  in  the  man  who  carried  His  cross. 
Perhaps  Jesus  did  not  speak.  He  was  too  weak 
for  words.     But  I  think  there  must  have  been  a 


CEOSS-BEABING  66 

moment  when  their  eyes  met,  and  Jesus  gave  His 
cross-bearer  a  look  the  beauty  and  glory  of  which 
Simon  carried  with  him  to  his  dying  day.  And  I 
like  to  think  that  Simon  said  something  to  Jesus 
as  they  went  on  together, — just  a  word  to  hearten 
the  worn  sufferer,  to  cheer  and  comfort  the  weary 
spirit  of  the  tired  Christ. 

With  this  old  story  before  us,  I  want  us  to  make 
our  communion  meditation  the  subject  of  cross- 
bearing,  for  whoever  walks  with  Christ  must  carry 
a  cross.  That  is  what  it  means  to  be  a  Christian. 
Some  think  only  of  escape  and  exemption.  We 
would  be  saved  not  for  what  we  can  do,  but  for 
what  we  can  get.  We  are  thinking  of  the  crown, 
of  heavenly  rest.  But  the  cross  comes  first.  Jesus 
made  this  plain  when  He  said:  *'  If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up 
his  cross  and  follow  me."  In  this  story  of  Simon 
we  discover  what  is  involved  in  cross-bearing. 

Horror 

There  was  the  horror  of  the  cross.  It  is  not 
there  to-day.  The  cross  has  become  a  decoration 
to  be  worn  by  dainty  women  and  soft  men.  Silver- 
smiths work  it  into  wonderful  designs  and  set  it 
with  rich  jewels  and  make  it  into  a  god.  The 
cross  features  music,  and  embellishes  architecture, 
and  adorns  art.     Its  horror  is  gone. 

It  was  not  so  in  the  day  Simon  carried  Christ's 
cross.     All  the  infamy  of  the  gallows  was  there. 


56  CROSS  BEAEING 

It  was  the  last  word  of  disgrace  for  the  condemned. 
It  stood  for  all  that  was  loathsome  and  repulsive. 
It  was  the  form  in  which  the  extremest  penalty 
was  meted  out  to  criminals  of  the  lowest  and  vilest 
kind.  It  was  not  possible  for  Simon  to  escape  a 
feeling  of  horror  as  he  found  himself  branded  with 
the  stigma  of  the  cross. 

In  a  way,  this  element  of  horror  abides  for  us  if 
we  really  understand  what  cross-bearing  for 
Christ  involves.  His  cross  is  not  that  picture  in 
the  stained  glass  of  the  church  window.  It  is  not 
the  symbol  that  is  placed  at  the  top  of  the  church 
spire.  It  is  the  sacrifice  which  cuts  to  the  quick 
in  the  soul.  Sometimes  it  involves  the  surrender 
of  what  is  dearest  in  life.  As  we  face  our  Golgotha 
and  learn  the  price  that  must  be  paid,  something  of 
the  horror  of  the  cross  still  stages  itself  in  our 
experience. 

Unexpectedness 

There  was  the  unexpectedness  of  the  cross. 
Simon  walked  into  his  Calvary.  There  was  no 
announcement.  It  took  him  by  surprise.  He  was 
not  even  a  member  of  the  parade,  not  even  a  sight- 
seer. He  was  going  the  other  way.  There  was 
every  reason  why  he  should  be  the  last  to  be 
chosen.  But  all  at  once,  he  finds  himself  singled 
out  and  loaded  down  with  the  cross. 

Usually  it  comes  as  a  surprise.  The  bolt  falls 
from  the  blue.  Suffering  and  pain  do  not  wait  to 


CEOSS-BEAEING  57 

be  announced.  They  enter  without  introduction. 
We  never  know  what  to-morrow  holds.  The  cross 
never  heralds  its  approach.  In  this,  our  cross 
differs  from  Christ's.  His  was  expected.  Its 
shadow  was  always  on  His  path.  He  steadfastly 
set  His  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  But  God  merci- 
fully spares  us  this  anticipation.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  when  the  cross  comes,  strength  will  be 
given  to  bear  the  load. 

Compulsion 

There  was  the  compulsion  of  the  cross,  "  Him 
they  compelled  to  bear  his  cross."  It  reads  as  if 
Simon  protested.  What  had  he  ever  done  to  be 
thus  stigmatized?  He  was  attending  to  his  own 
business.  He  is  a  peaceful,  law-abiding  citizen. 
He  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  trial.  They 
have  selected  the  wrong  man;  if  they  must  have  a 
cross-bearer,  let  them  take  one  of  those  hoarse- 
throated  ruffians  who  have  hounded  Him  to  trial 
and  who  were  so  keen  for  His  conviction.  But 
they  declined  to  listen  to  protest,  and  Simon  is 
compelled.  ♦ 

There  is  a  compulsion  in  cross-bearing.  You 
have  wondered  why  the  load  should  have  been  laid 
on  you.  What  have  you  done  to  deserve  it?  It 
does  not  seem  fair.  You  make  your  protest.  But 
it  is  all  a  waste  of  words.  Back  of  the  cross  is  a 
great  mystery.  Christ  did  not  deserve  Calvary,  but 
there  was  no  way  for  Him  to  escape.     Perhaps 


58  CEOSS-BEAEIKG 

some  day  the  curtain  will  lift,  and  there  will  be  an 
explanation,  but  now  the  cross  compels.  It  were 
easier  not  to  murmur.  It  were  better  cheerfully  to 
take  the  cross  and  follow  Him. 

Severity 

There  was  the  severity  of  the  cross.  Cross- 
bearing  is  not  easy.  It  is  hard.  The  cross  is 
heavy.  It  crushed  Christ.  Simon  was  worn  before 
he  laid  his  burden  down  where  Jesus  was  to  die  and 
where  all  burdens  slip  from  tired  shoulders,  and 
the  weary  find  rest.  But  there  is  a  severity,  a  hard- 
ness, a  sternness  about  crosses.  Sacrifice  wears  a 
commandment  face  as  it  summons  us  to  duty. 

And  yet  this  is  the  glory  of  the  cross.  This 
constitutes  its  heroism.  Christianity  is  not  a  cheap 
religion.  It  challenges  the  best  there  is  in  the  soul. 
It  calls  for  hearts  that  are  courageous.  It  does  not 
oflFer  ease  and  the  pleasures  of  a  soft  life,  but  it 
speaks  of  the  storm,  and  sternly  calls  to  hardship 
and  trial.  But  these  things  which  I  have  men- 
tioned are  not  all.  There  is  another  side  to  cross- 
bearing. 

Fellowship 

There  was  the  fellowship  of  the  cross.  It  was 
Simon's  chance  to  walk  with  Christ.  He  walked 
out  of  obscurity  into  fame  bearing  the  cross.  But 
for  this,  we  should  probably  never  have  heard  of 
him.  This  was  his  introduction  to  Jesus.  And 
what  an  intimate  fellowship  followed!    The  very 


CEOSS-BEAEING  69 

beam  that  had  pressed  down  into  Christ's  flesh  now 
presses  into  the  flesh  of  Simon.  A  while  ago  the 
load  was  on  Christ.  It  is  now  His  cross-bearer's. 
What  a  bond!  Who  would  shrink  from  such  a 
sweet  load  ?  Welcome  the  burden  that  is  a  bond  of 
fellowship  with  Christ ! 

Who  knows  but  the  fellowship  of  that  hour 
made  Simon  a  Christian?  He  has  reached  home, 
and  is  telling  his  wife  the  story.  He  seems  to  say: 
"  Wife,  I  have  had  a  wonderful  time  to-day.  I 
met  a  man  unlike  any  I  have  ever  known  before. 
They  were  taking  Him  out  to  crucify  Him.  And 
they  made  me  bear  His  cross.  But  He  was  no 
criminal.  He  was  the  gentlest,  purest,  most 
heavenly  Man  I  have  ever  met.  He  was  more  like 
God.  I  believe  in  Him."  And  after  a  while,  I 
fancy  his  wife  said:  "  I  believe  in  Him,  too."  And 
so  they  took  the  Hero  of  Calvary  into  their  hearts. 
They  had  two  sons,  Alexander  and  Rufus.  The 
years  drift  by.  They  seem  to  be  living  in  Rome 
now.  One  day  they  have  a  preacher  in  their  home. 
They  learn  to  love  him,  and  he  counts  them  as  his 
dear  friends.  And  as  he  closes  his  letter  to  the 
Romans,  Paul  says:  "  Salute  Rufus,  that  choice 
Christian,  and  his  mother,  who  has  also  been  a 
mother  to  me." 

Oh,  the  fellowship  of  the  cross !  This  is  the  way 
we  find  Him, — in  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings ; 
and  as  we  share  our  sufferings  with  Him,  we  are 
not  depressed.    We  are  glorified. 


60  CEOSSBEAEINQ 

Memory 

There  was  the  memory  of  the  cross.  Some  days 
Simon  forgot.  There  were  weeks  and  months  that 
were  a  blank  in  his  Hfe.  But  he  never  forgot  the 
day  he  carried  Christ's  cross.  It  stood  out,  radi- 
ant among  all  the  days  of  his  life.  It  stamped  it- 
self forever  on  his  memory.  He  loved  to  think 
about  it,  to  seek  a  quiet  spot  now  and  then  and 
recall  that  great  hour  when  he  walked  with  Christ 
and  bore  His  cross.  It  is  the  cross  that  glorifies 
memory,  and  it  is  memory  that  transfigures  the 
cross.  There  is  pain  at  the  time,  but  somehow  as 
time  goes  on,  the  pain  fades  out,  and  only  the 
glory  remains.  Thus  the  days  we  cherish  are  the 
days  when  we  suffered  with  Him.  The  deeds  we 
prize  are  the  sacrifices  we  were  permitted  to  make 
for  Him.  It  is  so  here.  It  must  be  the  same  in 
heaven.  Hence,  one  has  nothing  worth  remember- 
ing if  he  has  carried  no  cross  for  Christ. 

Triumph 

There  was  the  triumph  of  the  cross.  Three  days 
had  not  gone  by  ere  it  showed  itself.  Christ  is 
risen.  The  flame  of  the  holy  evangel  begins  to 
spread.  By  the  thousands  they  are  acclaiming  the 
crucified  One  as  Lord  and  King.  As  Simon  hears 
of  all  this,  he  becomes  increasingly  proud  of  the 
day  he  bore  Christ's  cross.  This  is  his  distinction 
in  the  early  church.     When  they  introduced  him 


CEOSS-BEAEING  61 

to  new  disciples,  this  was  the  thing  they  said  about 
him:  "  This  is  the  Simon  who  carried  His  cross." 
It  was  distinction  enough. 

The  cross  is  increasingly  triumphant.  Ours  is 
not  a  lost  cause. 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run." 

The  cross  is  not  our  despair.  It  is  our  hope.  It 
is  not  weight,  but  wings.  It  is  not  penalty,  but  re- 
ward. All  hail  the  cross !  "  They  found  a  man 
of  Cyrene.  Him  they  compelled  to  bear  his 
cross.**  Are  they  laying  a  cross  from  Christ's 
shoulders  on  you?  Do  not  shrink  or  turn  away. 
Rather  rejoice.  For  if  we  suffer,  we  shall  also 
reign  with  Him. 


VIII 

PEACE!  PERFECT  PEACE! 

"Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you:  not 
as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid." — John  14 :  27. 

THIS  was  Christ's  bequest  to  His  disciples 
at  the  communion  table.  They  are 
gathered  in  the  upper  room.  Soon  they 
will  go  to  the  garden.  From  the  garden,  Christ 
will  go  to  the  cross,  from  Gethsemane  to  Calvary. 
Yonder  is  the  great  shadow  approaching  nearer 
and  closer,  and  soon  it  will  shroud  that  little  group 
of  friends  in  its  sable  gloom. 

Jesus  has  just  instituted  the  Holy  Supper.  He 
is  asking  His  friends  to  do  a  thing  that  will  keep 
them  from  forgetting  Him.  He  does  not  want  to 
be  forgotten,  and  so  He  takes  the  bread  and  blesses 
it,  and  says :  "  Take,  eat,  this  is  my  body  which  is 
for  you;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me.'*  After 
the  same  manner  He  takes  the  cup,  and  says: 
"  This  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood ;  all  of  you 
drink  of  it;  for  as  often  as  you  eat  this  bread  and 
drink  this  cup,  you  do  show  my  death  until  I 


come." 


62 


PEACE  1    PEEFEOT  PEACE  I  63 

He  would  also  give  them  something  as  He  leaves 
them.  There  at  the  communion  table  He  makes 
a  bequest.  He  devises  His  estate  to  His  friends. 
What  legacy  can  He  leave  them  ?  What  has  Jesus 
to  bequeath  ?  He  has  plenty  of  trouble.  Shall  He 
leave  them  that?  He  has  plenty  of  sorrow,  of 
persecution  and  privation,  of  want  and  woe  and 
hardship,  of  desertion  and  apparent  defeat.  He 
has  all  this  in  abundance,  and  indeed,  His  friends 
will  speedily  come  into  possession  of  all  this.  In 
a  few  hours  they  will  be  fleeing  for  their  lives, 
driven  hither  and  thither,  hunted  down,  in  prison, 
slain.  Christ  could  easily  have  said:  "  My  trouble 
I  leave  with  you;  my  trouble  I  give  unto  you," 
and  the  world  would  never  have  tried  to  break  His 
will. 

His  bequest,  however,  was  of  a  very  different 
kind.  Let  us  listen  to  Him  as  He  devises  His 
estate:  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give 
unto  you :  not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you. 
Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be 
afraid."  Christ's  legacy  to  His  friends  was  peace, 
perfect  peace.  It  was  the  one  thing  the  world  was 
ever  trying  to  take  away  from  Him,  but  the  one 
thing  of  which  He  was  in  fullest  and  completest 
possession  when  He  came  to  die. 

And  those  men  to  whom  Christ  thus  devised  His 
blessed  peace  never  for  a  moment  doubted  the 
reality  of  the  bequest.  In  the  years  which  followed 
they  had  trouble,  but  they  also  had  peace.    The^ 


U  PEACE  I    PERFECT  PEACE ! 

had  privations  without  end,  and  perils  that  were 
ceaseless,  but  they  were  ever  garrisoned  with  the 
peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding. 

What  the  World  Needs 

It  is  the  legacy  we  need  most.  Existence  is 
crowded  with  restlessness  and  distraction.  Life  is 
packed  with  unrest.  There  is  turmoil  and  con- 
fusion on  every  side.  There  is  strife  and  aliena- 
tion. The  storm  is  on  the  sea  of  life.  The  waves 
are  angry.  Oh,  for  rest!  For  quiet!  For  escape 
from  friction  and  worry!  For  the  Master  to 
stand  forth  as  in  the  olden  times  and  say  to  the 
angry  sea:  "  Peace!    Be  still!  " 

Peace  is  what  the  world  is  needing  most  in  these 
days  in  which  we  live.  The  prayer  for  peace 
beats  day  and  night  in  a  tide  of  ceaseless  inter- 
cession against  the  throne  of  God.  It  moans  across 
the  dying  lips  of  soldiers  on  the  battle-field.  It 
cries  out  of  the  hearts  of  women  who  have  lost 
their  loved  ones,  and  from  the  stricken  faces  of 
children  whom  the  cruel  war  has  orphaned.  It 
shrieks  in  the  scream  of  bursting  shells,  and  groans 
in  the  sullen  roar  of  guns.  It  pleads  with  heaven 
in  a  dumb  pathos  from  scarred  and  ruined  fields, 
from  valleys  once  lovely,  but  now  desolate,  from 
forests  mowed  down  by  shot  to  bleeding  and  un- 
sightly stumps.  Oh,  for  peace!  For  surcease  of 
strife !  For  an  end  to  war  and  bloodshed !  For  a 
bit  of  the  communion  bequest  of  the  world's  best 


PEACE  I    PEBFECT  PEACE  I  65 

Friend  in  these  days  of  the  world's  greatest  trou- 
ble! 

And  peace  is  possible.  It  is  the  one  thing  that 
is  permanent.  Strife  has  only  a  temporary  tenure. 
Trouble  is  like  a  cloud  that  cannot  last.  It  is  like 
a  shadow  that  must  pass.  But  peace  is  the  eternal 
blue  in  God's  sky  which  clouds  may  dim,  but  not 
destroy.  Peace  is  the  star  whose  shining  light  all 
nights  cannot  quench,  for  peace  is  down  on  God's 
program  for  our  world,  and  He  Who  is  to  reign 
forever  and  ever  has  said;  ''Peace  I  leave  with 
you 


\  " 


Christ's  Peace 

What  is  the  peace  of  Christ?  It  is  vastly  more 
than  escape  and  exemption.  It  is  more  than  hav- 
ing the  ache  deadened  and  the  trouble  put  to  sleep. 
Christ's  peace  is  not  negative,  but  positive.  It  is 
acquired  not  by  running  away  from  turmoil,  but 
by  conquering  it.  It  is  not  a  rotten  peace.  It  is 
the  peace  of  victory,  the  serenity  of  a  great  con- 
quest. 

It  is  peace  amid  the  storm.  You  have  seen  a 
bird  perch  on  the  mast  of  a  ship  that  was  tossed 
by  wild  waves ;  but  the  bird  was  not  afraid.  It  is 
a  peace  like  that.  You  have  seen  a  star  gleam  on 
the  edge  of  a  tem.pest,  but  the  star  was  undisturbed. 
It  IS  a  peace  like  that.  You  have  seen  the  sun 
shine  on  a  scene  that  was  all  confusion  and  wreck, 
but  the  glory  of  the  sunshine  was  unstained.    It  is 


66  PEACE  I    PEEFECT  PEACE  ! 

a  peace  like  that.  It  is  the  kind  of  peace  Christ 
had.  Never  was  there  such  opposition.  The  tu- 
mult was  ever  about  Him.  But  He  moved  on, 
calm,  serene,  and  undisturbed,  for  He  had  a  peace 
the  world  could  not  give  nor  take  away.  It  is  the 
peace  of  an  inward  content,  of  a  spiritual  joy,  of  a 
soul  serenity.  The  dwelling  place  of  happiness  is 
in  the  heart.  The  heart  draws  its  nourishment 
from  an  unseen  source.  I  have  seen  a  tree  grow- 
ing on  the  naked  cheek  of  a  bare  and  barren  rock 
on  a  mountainside.  Through  storm  and  sunshine 
it  stands  up  undisturbed  from  its  barren  base,  lift- 
ing verdant  branches  which  cast  a  generous  shade. 
I  wondered  how  it  lived  on  such  a  sterile  site,  until 
I  discovered  hidden  roots  which  lapped  around  the 
rock  and  ran  away  to  rich  and  mellow  soil,  and 
from  that  hidden  oasis  by  secret  lines  the  tree 
drew  its  sustenance.  It  is  so  in  the  life  of  the  soul. 
Ever  and  again  our  lot  is  bare  and  barren,  but 
faith  connects  with  hidden  resources,  and  we  are 
sustained. 

*'  Outward  life  is  light  and  shadow. 
Mingled  wrong  and  struggling  right, 
But  within  the  outward  trouble 
Shines  a  healing,  inward  light. 

"  Not  to  us  may  come  fulfilment, 
Not  below  our  struggles  cease, 
Yet  the  heavenly  vision  gives  us, 
Even  here,  an  inward  peace." 


PEACE  !    PEEFECT  PEACE !  67 

Christ's  peace  is  that  which  comes  from  the 
great  reconciUation.  We  are  reconciled  to  God  by 
the  death  of  His  Son.  There  is  no  peace  until  the 
soul  has  peace  with  God.  There  is  no  harmony 
for  anything  in  the  universe  until  it  centres  right. 
Man's  soul  centres  in  his  Maker.  Therefore  let  us 
have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Christ  establishes  peace  between  us  and  our 
eternal  Father,  and  once  that  peace  is  ours,  all 
worries  and  distractions  lose  their  power  to  dis- 
turb us. 

Claim  the  Bequest 

Jesus  IS  still  at  His  table.  He  is  breaking  the 
communion  bread.  He  presses  the  chalice  of  His 
sufferings  to  the  lips  of  His  disciples.  He  is  say- 
ing over  the  old  words,  and  among  them  is  this: 
"  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto 
you:  not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid." 

Shall  we  claim  our  inheritance?  Peace  is  ours 
if  we  will  but  have  it.  He  has  left  it  to  us.  The 
papers  tell  of  a  woman  who  has  just  come  into 
possession  of  a  fortune.  A  relative  died  years  ago, 
leaving  a  large  estate,  and  she  was  next  of  kin. 
During  these  years  the  newspapers  had  been  ad- 
vertising for  her.  They  had  been  searching  the 
land  trying  to  find  her.  But  she  had  moved  to  an 
obscure  town  and  changed  her  name.  She  was 
living  in  obscure  poverty  while  all  the  time  a  for- 


68  PEACE  !    PEEFECT  PEACE  ! 

tune  was  hers  if  she  would  but  claim  it.  Her 
identity  was  at  last  discovered  almost  by  accident. 
When  will  the  Christian  claim  his  estate,  his  peer- 
less possession  of  peace?  How  God  must  hunt  us 
out  and  run  us  down  to  give  it  to  us!  How  He 
must  plead  with  us  to  take  Christ's  communion 
bequest !    Why  not  take  it  and  be  happy  ? 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  in  this  dark  world  of  sin : 
The  blood  of  Jesus  whispers  peace  within. 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  by  thronging  duties  pressed: 
To  do  the  will  of  Jesus, — this  is  rest. 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  with  sorrows  surging  round : 
On  Jesus'  bosom  naught  but  calm  is  found. 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  with  loved  ones  far  away : 
In  Jesus'  keeping  we  are  safe,  and  they. 

"  Peace,  perfect  peace,  our  future  all  unknown : 
Jesus  we  know,  and  He  is  on  the  throne. 

*'  Peace,  perfect  peace,  death  shadowing  us  and  ours : 
Jesus  has  vanquished  death  and  all  its  powers. 

"  It  is  enough ;  earth's  struggles  soon  shall  cease, 
And  Jesus  call  us  to  Heaven's  perfect  peace." 


IX 

THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION 

"  This  is  my  commandment.  That  ye  love  one  another  as  I 
have  loved  you."— John  15 :  12. 

HERE  is  a  sentence  from  the.  Saviour's 
communion  address.  He  is  giving  His 
disciples  His  commandment.  He  is  not 
repealing  His  Father's  commandments.  He  is  not 
suggesting  that  His  Father  spoke  amiss  when, 
amid  the  gleam  and  roar  of  Sinai,  He  thundered 
out  upon  the  race  the  ten  great  moralities  on  whose 
enduring  strength  the  future  structure  of  human 
society  was  to  be  built.  He  is  saying  that  in  ad- 
dition to  these  ten  words,  and  in  perfect  harmony 
with  them,  and  indeed,  as  a  result  of  them,  He  has 
a  law  to  give.  It  is  this :  "  That  ye  love  one  an- 
other as  I  have  loved  you." 

It  is  a  great  commandment.  Love  is  the  great- 
est thing  in  the  world,  and  Christ's  love  was  the 
greatest  love  in  the  world,  and  we  Christians  are  to 
love  each  other  as  Christ  has  loved  us.  There  is 
nothing  higher,  holler,  diviner  than  this.  It  is  the 
tie  which  is  to  reunite  the  dismembered  human 
race.    It  is  the  bond  which  is  to  bind  us  into  a  new 

69 


70  THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION 

unity.  It  is  the  constitution  on  which  is  to  be  or- 
ganized the  kingdom  of  fraternity.  All  these  are 
there.  Every  possible  duty  is  packed  into  a  single 
line.  "  Love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you." 
Let  us  do  that,  and  nothing  remains  undone.  Let 
us  do  everything  else,  and  fail  to  do  that,  and  life 
remains  woefully  incomplete,  and  duty  tumbles 
down  into  ruins. 

In  this  commandment  Christ  foregleams  a  two- 
fold union.  The  first  is  that  between  Him  and  His 
disciples.  The  second  is  that  between  His  dis- 
ciples and  one  another.  There  is  first  the  tie  which 
binds  us  to  Christ,  so  that  Christ  and  His  people 
are  one.  Then  there  is  the  tie  which  binds  us  to 
each  other,  so  that  Christ's  people  are  one.  In 
each  case  the  tie  is  love.  Christ's  people  are  one 
with  Him  because  He  has  loved  down  and  out  of 
existence  every  dividing  barrier.  Christ's  people 
are  one  with  each  other  because  they  love  each 
other  as  Christ  loved  them. 

This  is  the  union  of  communion.  Declaring  it, 
Christ  instituted  the  Holy  Supper  to  keep  it  an 
everlasting  sacramental  remembrance,  so  that  as 
often  as  His  followers  should  meet  and  break 
bread  among  themselves,  as  often  as  they  should 
pass  the  cup,  they  should  symbolize  their  oneness 
with  Him  and  their  oneness  with  one  another.  It 
is  this  unity  Christ  would  have  His  people  medi- 
tate upon  and  experience  as  they  partake  of  the 
sacred  emblems  in  remembrance  of  Him. 


THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION  71 

One  With  Christ 

We  are  one  with  the  Saviour.  His  love  for  us 
is  such  an  absorbing  and  compelling  passion  that 
it  makes  us  as  much  a  part  of  Him  as  our  bodies 
are  a  part  of  us. 

We  are  one  with  Christ,  so  that  if  He  has  any 
merit,  it  is  as  much  ours  as  His.  He  has  all  merit. 
His  is  the  merit  of  a  perfect  righteousness,  the 
saintliness  that  can  never  come  into  condemna- 
tion. Since  we  are  one  with  Christ,  Christ's  merit 
is  ours. 

We  are  one  with  Christ,  so  that  if  He  has  any 
standing  with  God,  it  is  as  much  ours  as  His.  He 
has  standing  with  God.  He  has  entered  into  the 
"  holy  of  holies."  He  is  our  all-prevailing  advo- 
cate, so  that  whatever  He  asks  of  the  Father  is 
done.  Our  prayers  are  as  prevailing.  Marvellous 
privilege!  .This  is  what  Christ  means  when  He 
says:  *  If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in 
you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done 
unto  you." 

We  are  one  with  Christ,  so  that  if  He  has  any 
fortune,  it  is  as  much  ours  as  His.  All  things  are 
His.  He  is  the  heir  of  God,  and  because  we  are 
one  with  Him,  we  are  joint  heirs  to  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that  shall  never  pass 
away.  All  that  Christ  has  of  honour,  of  dignity 
and  power,  of  spiritual  resources,  is  as  much  ours 
as  His ;  not  because  we  have  earned  it,  not  because 
we  need  it ;  but  because  He  has  loved  us. 


72  THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION 

We  are  one  with  Christ,  so  that  if  He  has  any 
future,  it  is  as  much  ours  as  His.  All  the  future  is 
in  His  keeping.  He  is  the  King  of  the  destiny  of 
the  world.  ''  Of  the  increase  of  his  government 
and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end."  The  destiny  of 
His  people  is  the  same.  No  wonder  we  are  told 
that  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
him." 

This  is  wonderful.  But  it  is  not  all.  The  re- 
verse side  of  privilege  is  always  obligation.  Union 
is  two-sided.  Not  only  is  Christ  united  to  us,  but 
^^  to  Him.  Consider  what  this  involves.  If  we 
have  any-  IT.Crit,  it  is  as  much  His  as  ours.  If  we 
have  any  standing,  aPiV  fortune,  any  future,  any 
influence,  any  asset  of  vaiiie  whatever,  it  is  ever 
as  much  His  as  ours.  We  are  solakr:  of  fortune 
together.  We  are  not  our  own,  for  we  have  \>2.'en 
bought  with  a  price.  We  have  been  purchased  by 
a  great  love.  For  this  we  are  to  glorify  God  in 
our  bodies  and  in  our  spirits,  which  are  His. 

This  is  the  first  kind  of  union  the  communion 
proclaims.  Why  should  we  be  timid  and  fearful 
if  this  be  true?  Why  should  we  be  alarmed  as  we 
gaze  out  into  the  vast  rushing  worlds  amid  which 
we  seem  adrift  like  a  mote  afloat  in  a  sunbeam? 
We  are  not  lost.  We  are  part  of  Christ,  and  all  is 
well. 


THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION  73 

One  With  One  Another 

We  are  also  to  love  down  and  out  of  existence 
all  the  barriers  which  separate  Christ's  people  from 
one  another.  We  are  one  with  one  another,  so 
that  if  any  one  of  us  has  any  merit,  it  is  as  much 
his  fellows-Christian's  as  his  own.  We  are  on  a 
level  as  regards  our  rights.  We  must  not  think  of 
ourselves  more  highly  than  we  ought  to  think. 
Each  must  esteem  the  other  better  than  himself. 

We  are  one  with  one  another,  so  that  if  any  one 
has  a  load  to  carry,  it  is  as  much  his  fellow-Chris- 
tian's load  as  his  own.  We  are  to  bear  one  an- 
other's burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ. 
One  love  has  made  identical  all  our  life  interests. 

We  are  one  with  one  another,  so  that  if  any  one 
IS  in  peril,  in  jeopardy  or  need,  either  temporal 
or  eternal,  it  is  as  much  his  fellow-Christian's  as 
his  own.  We  are  to  follow  Christ  along  the  road 
miarked  by  a  cross.  "  As  he  laid  down  his  life 
for  us,  so  must  we  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren."  We  are  one  in  our  hopes  and  aims,  our 
faiths  and  loves,  our  duties  and  obligations. 

Is  not  this  also  w^onderful?  We  are  brethren. 
We  are  not  foes,  competitors,  strangers,  chance 
acquaintances,  companions.  We  are  more  than  or- 
dinary comrades.  "  All  we  be  brethren."  "  Our 
hopes,  our  fears,  our  aims  are  one." 

This  is  what  Christ  wants  His  people  to  be  to 
each  other.    Is  He  expecting  too  much  ?    It  would 


74  THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION 

be  a  heavenly  thing  for  us  to  dwell  together  this 
way,  and  act  toward  each  other  in  accordance  with 
such  holy  bonds.  But  is  it  possible  ?  We  live  in  a 
practical  world.  The  atmosphere  we  breathe  is 
saturated  with  strife  and  slander  and  suspicion  and 
sin.  Can  it  be  that  such  fellowship  was  ever  meant 
for  earth  ? 

It  is  asking  much.  The  union  of  communion  is 
not  an  ordinary  union.  It  is  not  a  common  tie  nor 
a  cheap  fellowship.  It  is  high  as  God,  holy  as  Cal- 
vary, enduring  as  eternity.  But  we  do  not  regard 
it  as  too  high  when  it  comes  to  our  union  with 
Christ,  or  too  heavenly  when  it  comes  to  claiming 
His  merit  and  standing  before  God.  We  feel  that 
our  union  with  Christ  is  possible  because  His  love 
for  us  is  so  great.  If  we  loved  each  other  as  He 
loves  us,  it  would  not  be  too  wild  a  dream  to  hope 
that  we  might  realize  here  on  earth  this  second 
kind  of  union.  If  we  are  His  true  followers.  He 
commands  us  to  love  each  other  after  that  fash- 
ion,— "  as  he  has  loved  us." 

If  Christians  would  only  keep  this  command- 
ment of  love,  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  us  to 
be  continually  trying  to  invent  some  new  panacea 
for  the  ills  of  the  world.  There  is  not  much  room 
for  starlight  when  there  is  sunlight.  Cheap 
schemes  to  bring  about  human  brotherhood  would 
fall  of  their  own  weight  if  men  would  only  pay  a 
little  attention  to  Christ's  scheme.  The  union  of 
communion  is  Christ's  dream  for  humanity.    It  is 


THE  UNION  OF  COMMUNION  75 

Christianity's  gospel  for  social  redemption.  It  is 
so  much  better  than  all  others  that  they  cannot 
even  be  compared.  "  This  is  my  commandment. 
That  ye  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you." 
The  world  is  still  far,  far  behind  Christ.  People 
sometimes  talk  about  Christianity  being  v^orn  out. 
They  speak  of  its  failure.  It  would  be  well  first  to 
give  it  a  trial. 

Christ  proposes  to  light  the  torch  of  human 
progress  with  the  flame  of  His  own  holy  passion, 
and  teach  men  to  love  each  other  in  the  same 
heavenly  way  that  He  loves  all  men.  Oh,  to  learn 
that  lesson!  It  is  the  old  lesson,  the  great,  high, 
divine  lesson  of  being  brethren.  It  is  about  all 
there  is  in  religion.  As  we  partake  of  the  sacra- 
mental symbols,  as  the  old  story  fills  our  hearts 
with  its  blessed  peace,  let  us  pray  that  we  may  com- 
prehend with  all  saints  what  is  the  length  and 
breadth,  and  height  and  depth,  and  to  know  the 
love  of  God  which  passeth  knowledge, — that  we 
may  love  one  another  as  Christ  has  loved  us! 


X 

THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE 
KINGDOM 

"  Until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my, 
Father's  kingdom" — Matthew  26 :  29. 

THIS  verse  takes  us  to  the  communion  in 
the  upper  room.  Jesus  is  gathered 
around  the  table  with  His  friends. 
Across  the  table  falls  the  shadow  of  a  cross,  and 
into  the  hearts  of  those  present  comes  a  vague  fear 
that  soon  their  days  of  comradeship  will  be  rudely 
broken.  For  three  happy  years  they  have  gone  up 
and  down  the  land  together,  under  the  leadership 
of  Jesus,  sharing  in  the  service  and  glory  of  a 
ministry  that  has  changed  woe  to  peace.  But  hos- 
tility has  dogged  their  steps,  and  the  night  has 
come  for  the  last  act.    Soon  they  must  part. 

Ere  they  part,  Jesus  pledges  them  to  remem- 
brance. He  takes  bread  and  wine  and  consecrates 
them  as  the  symbols  of  His  passion,  and  bids  His 
disciples,  when  they  meet,  to  partake  of  them  in 
hallowed  remembrance  of  Him.  Then  for  the  first 
time  they  keep  the  feast.  Jesus  keeps  it  with  them. 
In  future  they  will  keep  it,  and  down  the  centuries 
Christ's  faithful  followers  will  keep  it  when  Christ 
Himself  is  present  only  in  the  remembrance  of  the 
hearts  that  love  Him.  But  to-night  Jesus  is  there 
in  person,  and  thus  they  keep  the  feast. 

76 


THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM  77 

He  is  saying:  "  This  is  not  the  last  time  I  will 
keep  it  with  you.  The  day  is  coming  when  we  shall 
meet  around  the  table  again.  Until  that  day  when 
I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom.'* 
As  He  said  that,  the  atmosphere  of  the  upper  room 
changed.  It  became  an  antechamber  to  the  courts 
of  glory.  The  little  street  outside  was  no  longer  a 
blind  alley,  ending  in  the  shame  of  a  malefactor's 
cross,  but  a  royal  avenue  winding  to  a  throne. 
Jesus  will  die,  but  He  will  live.  He  will  push 
through  the  grave,  and  brush  past  shades,  and 
shake  off  the  sepulchre. 

He  will  drink  it  new  with  them,  with  the  morn- 
ing light  in  their  faces,  with  no  shadow  across  the 
table,  with  no  fear  in  their  hearts,  and  with  noth- 
ing to  stain  or  dim  the  event. 

He  will  drink  it  with  them  in  the  kingdom,  not 
in  defeat,  but  in  victory ;  not  hunted  by  the  foe,  but 
serene;  not  under  cover  of  darkness  in  an  upper 
room,  but  on  the  heights  of  the  free,  and  in  the 
sunlit  open ;  not  with  the  hirelings  of  crafty  priests 
crouching  outside  the  door  to  arrest,  but  with  the 
songs  of  the  invisible  choir,  and  with  the  chant  of 
the  redeemed ;  not  with  a  rough  cross  yonder  on  an 
horizon  of  storm-clouds,  but  with  the  white  throne, 
and  the  light  that  never  fades,  and  the  peace  that 
never  dies. 

This  was  the  Saviour's  promise  to  His  friends 
there  at  the  communion  in  the  upper  room.  As 
they  listened,  they  forgot  their  hardships.     The 


78  THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM 

cheap  room  became  the  palace  of  the  King.  Fear 
faded  from  their  hearts.  Peril  seemed  a  thing  of 
the  past.  The  note  changed  from  minor  to  major, 
and  the  song  from  miserere  to  jubilate.  The  trans- 
figuring light  of  immortal  victory  fell  on  their 
faces,  and  the  fires  of  an  enthusiasm  that  was  never 
to  be  quenched  flared  into  flame  on  the  altar  of 
their  faith. 

''  Until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  w^ith  you 
in  my  Father^s  kingdom."  What  did  Christ  mean 
by  this  new  communion  in  the  kingdom  ?  Perhaps 
the  usual  interpretation  is  to  refer  the  text  to  some 
experience  the  Christian  Is  to  have  after  death  in 
heaven,  and  the  thought  is  that  after  this  life  of 
suffering  and  sorrow,  of  struggle  with  temptation, 
after  the  turmoil  of  strife  and  the  conflict  of  battle 
and  the  days  of  service  are  over,  when  there  are  no 
more  furnace  fires  to  scorch  us,  and  no  angry 
floods  to  sweep  about  us,  we  shall  meet.  And 
Jesus  will  meet  with  us,  and  for  the  sake  of  old 
times  we  shall  keep  the  feast.  Just  as  the  old 
soldiers  to-day  gather  around  their  camp-fires,  and 
tell  the  stories  of  a  war  long  past,  so  the  veterans 
of  the  cross  will  gather  with  the  Captain  of  their 
salvation,  and  with  love  of  auld  lang  syne  in  their 
hearts,  they  will  keep  the  feast. 

I  imagine  that  the  substance  of  this  Interpre- 
tation is  true,  whether  the  drapery  we  paint  into  it 
be  true  or  not.  Beyond  the  stretches  of  toil,  there 
is  rest.    Beyond  the  battle-fields,  there  is  victory. 


THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM  79 

Beyond  the  hills  of  struggle,  there  are  the  heights 
of  peace.  After  the  long  march  is  home.  There 
in  the  glory,  with  victory  on  our  banners,  we  shall 
meet  and  greet  each  other,  and  our  Divine  Leader 
will  appear,  and  **  we  shall  see  Him  face  to  face, 
and  tell  the  story,  saved  by  grace." 

Let  us  think  of  this  heavenly  communion.  Are 
we  cast  down  and  discouraged,  fiercely  tempted 
and  sorely  tried?  Are  we  weary  and  well-nigh 
spent  ?  Let  us  dwell  on  the  hour  when  all  this  will 
be  behind  us.  Now  we  drink  the  cup  in  weakness, 
but  some  day  we  shall  drink  it  with  frailty  all 
gone ;  now  in  sorrow,  but  some  day  with  the  tears 
wiped  away;  now  with  Satan  dogging  our  steps, 
but  some  day  with  Satan  in  chains  forever;  now 
with  the  sound  of  battle,  but  some  day  with  cheers 
of  triumph,  and  the  faces  of  home,  and  the  songs 
of  everlasting  peace. 

And  yet  I  wonder,  after  all,  if  this  is  precisely 
what  Jesus  meant  when  He  said:  "  Until  that  day 
when  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my  Father^s  king- 
dom." If  so,  of  course  the  heavenly  communion 
will  be  one,  not  so  much  of  remembrance,  as  of 
reunion.  Perhaps  as  we  think  of  this  communion 
in  heaven,  it  seems  shadowy  and  far-oflf.  Is  there 
not  a  nearer  and  more  tangible  communion  that 
Christ  had  in  mind?  I  think  there  is,  for  Jesus* 
ministry  concerned  itself  not  so  much  with  mak- 
ing dead  people  happy  as  with  making  living  people 
God's  children. 


80  THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM 

Jesus  came  to  establish  His  kingdom  in  this 
world,  to  bring  about  changes  in  human  society,  to 
lead  men  to  treat  each  other  right.  He  speaks  of 
this  over  and  over  again.  It  is  a  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  peace  and  joy,  whose  one  law  is 
the  largess  of  love.  It  is  a  kingdom  of  peace,  when 
war  drums  throb  no  longer,  and  battle  flags  are 
furled,  when  all  men  shall  be  brothers,  when  the 
Son  of  Man  will  no  longer  be  a  lonely  figure,  but 
every  life  will  project  itself  along  the  lines  of  His 
character  and  ministry. 

Such  a  state  of  society  seems  a  long  way  off,  but 
it  is  nearer  than  it  was,  and  nearer  because  Jesus 
has  been  living  in  this  world  for  nineteen  hundred 
years.  The  kingdom  is  coming.  Governments  are 
changing  from  despotism  to  republics.  War  is 
yielding  to  international  arbitration.  The  stand- 
ards of  trade  are  more  ethical.  Human  life  is 
held  in  higher  esteem.  Womanhood  and  child- 
hood are  invested  with  an  added  sanctity.  Delin- 
quents are  treated,  not  so  much  as  criminals,  but 
rather  as  the  victims  of  vicious  influences  for 
which  they  are  not  always  responsible.  For  two 
thousands  years  we  have  been  praying:  **  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  and 

"  It's  coming  yet,  for  a'  that, 
When  man  to  man  the  warl'  o'er 
Shall  brithers  be, 
And  a'  that." 


THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM  81 

This  is  the  meaning  of  world  missions.  It  is  a 
way  Christianity  has  of  saying  that  our  brothers 
and  sisters  in  Africa  and  China  must  share  in  the 
blessings  of  the  kingdom. 

When  the  kingdom  has  come,  when  fraternity 
is  estabhshed,  when  mankind  are  brothers,  when 
brotherhood  is  no  longer  a  dream  but  a  world- 
reality,  Christ  says  He  will  "  drink  the  cup  new." 
As  we  gather  in  that  fraternity,  as  we  meet  in  the 
fellowship  and  glory  of  perfect  brotherhood,  we 
shall  discover  as  we  look  around  the  table  and  gaze 
into  each  other's  faces,  that  Christ  is  with  us. 

There  is  an  old  legend  that  once  the  Great  Spirit 
visited  the  Indians  whose  home  was  in  the  foot- 
hills of  the  White  Mountains,  and  that  departing, 
he  promised  to  visit  them  again.  And  that  they 
might  recognize  him  on  his  return,  he  fixed  his 
image  in  the  stone  face  of  the  mountain.  It  is 
said  that  one  old  Indian  thought  of  the  promise  by 
day,  dreamed  of  it  by  night,  and  looked  often  and 
anxiously  into  the  faces  of  his  brothers,  to  see 
whether  he  might  distinguish  the  features  of  the 
Great  Spirit.  At  last,  when  the  nation  had  been 
purified  by  war,  they  looked  Into  the  face  of  this 
old  prophet,  and  saw  there  the  lineaments  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  who  had  come  back  and  taken  up  his 
residence  in  the  life  of  his  devoted  follower. 

It  IS  something  like  this  on  a  finer  and  grander 
and  diviner  scale  which  our  God  has  done  for  us. 
He  visited  the  race  in  the  Person  of  the  Son  of 


82  THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM 

Man,  and  departing,  left  with  us  the  promise  of 
His  return;  and  through  the  centuries  His  faith- 
ful followers  have  been  thinking  of  the  promise  by 
day,  and  dreaming  of  it  by  night,  and  ever  and 
again  voicing  the  prayer:  "  O  Lord,  tarry  not,  but 
come." 

Some  day  when  the  world  has  been  purified  by 
peace,  when  the  kingdom  has  come,  when  frater- 
nity has  been  established,  men  shall  look  into  each 
other's  faces,  and  find  there  the  image  of  their 
Lord,  Who  has  come  back  and  taken  up  His  resi- 
dence in  the  lives  of  those  who  are  possessed  of 
His  spirit. 

This  is  the  new  communion  in  the  kingdom.  It 
is  toward  this  that  the  Gospel  moves.  This  is  the 
great  consummation.  For  this  the  Christian  is 
living.  His  motives  are  from  on  high.  His  citi- 
zenship is  in  the  kingdom.  He  is  saved  by  hope, 
and  hope  is  beholding  the  vision  of  the  kingdom, 
and  living  as  though  the  kingdom  were  a  reality. 

A  generation  ago,  visitors  from  America  in 
Florence  were  visiting  the  studio  of  Hiram  Pow- 
ers, that  gifted  son  of  the  Green  Mountains,  who  in 
his  fine  work  produced  busts  and  statues  and  me- 
dallions which  rivalled  the  Greek  masters.  In  his 
rooms  might  be  found  the  idealization  of  some  of 
America's  most  famous  statesmen  and  soldiers. 
There  was  the  model  of  Liberty  for  the  summit 
of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  of  the  California 
pioneer  and  the  Massachusetts  Puritan. 


THE  NEW  COMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM  83 

One  day  a  visitor  from  America  said  to  Mr. 
Powers:  "When  were  you  in  America  last?'* 
Smiling,  he  replied:  *'  Some  thirty  years  ago/* 
"  Then  how  is  it  that  you  manage  to  keep  so  well 
in  touch  with  American  life  ?  "  he  was  asked ;  and 
he  answered:  "I  have  never  been  out  of  touch 
with  America  itself.  For  thirty  years  I  have  eaten 
and  slept  in  Italy,  but  I  have  never  lived  anywhere 
but  in  the  United  States." 

And  so  the  Christian  eats  and  sleeps  in  this  age 
of  strife  and  turmoil  and  conflict,  but  he  is  living 
in  the  kingdom.  The  motives  of  the  kingdom 
drive  his  life;  and  some  day,  under  the  spell  and 
service  of  the  men  and  women  who  have  caught  a 
vision,  the  kingdom  will  be  here,  and  the  world 
will  be  ready  for  the  new  communion.  What  a 
communion  that  will  be,  when  men  shall  hate  each 
other  no  more,  when 

"  There  is  neither  East  nor  West, 
Border  nor  breed  nor  birth," 

but  all  are  one  in  Christ!  Christ  will  show  Him- 
self among  His  friends  again,  and  as  He  looks 
around  the  table.  He  will  say:  "At  last  I  see  of 
the  travail  of  my  soul,  and  am  satisfied.  The  long 
waiting  is  over.  My  prayer  is  answered.  All  that 
the  Father  has  given  me  have  come  to  me.  Grace 
has  conquered  and  love  has  won.*' 

While  Christ  will  be  there,  it  will  still  be  a  feast 
of  remembrance,  for  as  we  look  back  on  the  ages 


84  THE  NIEW  COIMMUNION  IN  THE  KINGDOM 

of  conflict,  on  the  overthrow  of  hoary  errors,  on 
the  fallen  Ufted  and  the  sorrowing  comforted  and 
sickness  healed,  we  shall  see  that  Christ  has 
brought  It  all  about.  His  cross  has  won  the  vic- 
tory. His  love  has  cast  the  spell  that  has  changed 
the  world.  And  as  we  lift  the  chalice  of  that  new 
communion  in  the  kingdom  to  our  lips,  every  heart 
will  adore  Him,  and  the  song  of  the  feast  will  still 
be: 

"  Bring  forth  the  royal  diadem, 
And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all." 


XI 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE 
RESURRECTION 

"And  he  began  to  teach  them,  that  the  Son  of  Man  muil 
suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected  of  the  elders,  and  of  the 
chief  priests,  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  after  three  days 
rise  again" — Mark  8:31. 

CHRIST  declared  that  His  resurrection  was 
a  necessity.  We  are  in  the  habit  of  plac- 
ing it  on  a  lower  plane.  Sometimes  we 
defend  it  as  possible,  and  try  to  prove  that  it  may 
have  happened ;  sometimes  as  probable,  and  we  try 
to  show  that  it  likely  happened;  sometimes  as 
actual,  and  we  try  to  prove  its  reality.  Jesus  takes 
His  resurrection  out  of  the  possible  and  probable, 
and  even  out  of  the  actual  realm,  into  that  of  the 
absolute,  and  says  the  resurrection  was  unavoid- 
able. 

We  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  the  cross  as  a 
necessity.  We  say  that  it  was  necessary  for  Christ 
to  die.  But  there  are  those  who  think  of  the  resur- 
rection as  blessed,  if  true;  but  who  say  that 
whether  It  be  true  or  not,  we  have  the  cross ;  and 
so  they  brush  the  resurrection  aside  as  unimpor- 
tant. Calvary  was  the  great  reality,  Easter  morn- 
ing but  the  airy  fabric  of  a  poefs  dream.     Such 

85 


86  THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE  EESUEEECTION 

men  would  do  well  to  sit  longer  at  the  feet  of  the 
great  Teacher,  Who  said:  "  The  Son  of  man  must 
rise  again." 

The  cross  made  the  resurrection  a  necessity.  If 
Christ  did  not  rise,  His  death  was  defeat,  and  our 
preaching  vain.  Calvary  was  not  an  atonement, 
but  an  execution.  But  if  Christ  arose,  then  Christ 
died  as  a  sacrifice,  and  not  as  a  victim,  and  every 
soul  that  trusts  in  Him  is  saved. 

The  resurrection  is  a  necessity  because  of  the 
race.  If  Christ  rose  not,  we  are  of  all  men  the 
most  miserable.  Death  is  an  awful  void.  But  if 
Christ  rose,  we  shall  rise  also.  We  shall  meet 
again  the  loved  "  whom  we  have  lost  a  while."  In- 
deed, we  have  never  lost  them.  The  Saviour's 
words:  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you  "  are  not 
an  echo  from  the  pulseless  dust  to  mock  our  de- 
spair, but  hope's  harbinger  to  every  broken  heart. 

Christ's  heavenly  ministry  makes  His  resurrec- 
tion a  necessity.  He  did  not  complete  His  work 
as  the  world's  Redeemer  when  He  expired  on  the 
cross.  He  finished  His  expiatory  work,  but  the 
ministry  of  intercession  remains.  "  He  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us,"  But  if  Christ 
did  not  rise,  there  is  no  intercession.  No  one  rep- 
resents us  at  the  throne.  We  have  nothing  but  our 
weak  arms  and  pious  moods.  The  grim  foe  we 
face  laughs  us  to  scorn,  and  makes  doom  certain. 
Religion  is  a  canting  pantomime,  and  existence  a 
horrible  nightmare. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE  EESUEREOTION  87 

Christ's  kingdom  makes  His  resurrection  a 
necessity.  Kingdom  means  a  king.  Christ  promised 
His  disciples  to  return,  but  if  He  did  not  rise,  He 
will  never  come  back.  The  slopes  of  Olivet  will 
never  thrill  again  at  the  touch  of  His  blessed  feet. 
The  shades  of  Gethsemane  will  never  again  robe 
Him  with  reverent  silence  as  He  prays.  The  east- 
ern sky  will  never  more  empurple  and  change  to 
gold  at  the  glory  of  His  coming.  His  people  will 
wait  in  vain  for  the  soimd  of  His  voice  and  the 
spell  of  His  presence,  for  He  is  gone  forever. 

Do  you  begin  to  see  why  Jesus  said,  not  merely: 
"  I  must  suffer,  I  must  be  rejected,  I  must  be 
killed,"  but  also:  "1  must  rise  again;  I  must  rise 
to  make  the  cross  a  crown,  to  make  the  tomb 
aflame  with  light  for  all  who  follow  Me ;  to  make 
death  a  door,  and  the  sepulchre  an  entry  into  life; 
to  clear  the  way  to  the  throne,  where  I  may  pray 
my  people  into  power.  I  must  rise  for  the  king- 
dom"?   And  He  did. 

Therefore  it  is  the  risen  and  living  Christ  we 
remember  in  the  sacrament  which  celebrates  His 
death.  If  Christ  were  not  risen,  the  Holy  Supper 
would  plunge  us  into  melancholy  and  despair.  Be- 
cause He  IS  risen,  it  fills  us  with  the  courage  of  an 
immortal  hope. 


XII 

THE  GLORIOUS  DEATH 

"Signifying  by  what  death  he  should  glorify  God." 

— ^JOHN  21  :I9. 

IT  is  possible  for  one  to  glorify  God  by  the  way 
he  lives,  and  unless  he  does,  he  is  not  likely  to 
glorify  God  by  the  way  he  dies.  Death -bed 
repentance  is  within  the  range  of  possibility,  to  be 
sure,  but  there  is  not  much  credit  in  such  a  course. 
If  one's  life  shames  God,  his  death  is  not  likely  to 
glorify  Him;  but  if  his  life  be  right,  it  is  possible 
not  only  for  one  to  glorify  God  by  the  way  he  dies, 
but  to  make  death  his  supreme  and  crowning  trib- 
ute to  his  Redeemer. 

It  is  something  like  this  that  Christ  meant  when, 
speaking  to  Peter,  He  signified  by  what  death  He 
should  glorify  God.  On  the  whole,  Peter's  life  had 
been  to  God's  glory.  To  be  sure,  there  were  some 
dark  spots.  There  was  the  failure  of  his  faith 
Avhen  he  walked  on  the  w^ater  to  go  to  Jesus. 
There  w^as  the  hour  when  his  boasting  outran  his 
conduct.  There  was  the  dark  night  of  apostasy 
and  denial.  But  there  had  been  repentance,  and 
Peter  had  rallied  and  become  a  new  man.  But 
Jesus  says  to  him :  "  Your  great  chance  is  yet  to 
come.  It  w^ill  come  when  you  are  face  to  face  with 
death.    Then  is  the  hour  when  you  will  win  your 


crown." 


88 


THE  GLORIOUS  DEATH  89 

While  Jesus  said  this  about  a  disciple,  In  a  fuller 
and  truer  sense  He  could  have  said  it  of  Himself. 
He  was  just  from  the  cross  and  the  tomb.  Re- 
cently He  had  died.  He  had  hung  on  Calvary  and 
slept  in  Joseph's  garden,  and  He  comes  back  from 
it  all  to  say  that  death  is  not  humiliation  and  de- 
feat, but  opportunity  and  achievement.  It  is 
glorious. 

The  Penal  Scar 

Christ  bore  a  penal  scar.  He  was  put  to  death 
with  ignominy.  He  suffered  the  shameful  death 
of  the  cross.  In  all  the  history  of  human  punish- 
ment and  torture,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  has  ever 
been  devised  a  method  of  capital  punishment  more 
barbarous,  more  humiliating  to  its  victim,  with 
more  of  torture  In  its  experience  than  death  by 
crucifixion,  and  Christ  was  crucified.  To  add  to 
the  infamy  of  this  penal  scar,  to  deepen  His  shame 
and  humiliation,  and  to  Intensify  His  defeat,  Jesus 
was  crucified  between  two  common  thieves.  As  If 
to  make  mockery  of  His  sufferings,  the  soldiers 
who  drove  the  nails  Into  His  quivering  flesh  and 
thrust  the  spear  Into  His  blessed  side  and  pressed 
the  thorn  crown  on  His  holy  brow  and  guarded 
the  spot  lest  some  friend  should  do  something  to 
mitigate  His  pain  or  relieve  His  distress  sat  down 
before  the  cross  on  which  hung  the  dying  Christ 
and  gambled  for  His  seamless  robe. 

How  can  Christ  ever  throw  off  such  a  defeat? 


90  THE  GLORIOUS  DEATH 

It  would  seem  that  the  penal  scar  of  Calvary  is 
there  to  stay,  that  the  disgrace  and  obliquy  which 
His  enemies  put  upon  Him  in  His  death  would 
either  cover  His  name  with  oblivion  or  stain  it 
with  a  perpetual  infamy.    It  has  done  neither. 

The  Glorious  Triumph 

Christ's  death  was  His  supreme  and  glorious 
triumph.  It  was  His  sublimest  opportunity  to 
glorify  God,  for  Jesus  came  to  die.  He  taught  and 
preached.  He  worked  miracles  and  shared  man's 
lot,  but  He  came  to  die.  The  cross  was  His  goal. 
Death  for  Him,  therefore,  was  not  defeat,  but 
achievement.  His  enemies  thought  they  were  put- 
ting Him  to  death  as  a  common  criminal.  In 
reality  they  were  assisting  at  His  coronation,  for 
they  were  doing  what  the  determinate  counsel  and 
foreknowledge  of  God  had  foreordained. 

Christ's  death  was  His  sublimest  act  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  divine  will.  Jesus  placed  His  foot  on 
the  summit  stair  of  service  there  at  Calvary.  He 
came  to  do  the  Father's  will.  He  was  doing  it  in 
every  act  and  word  and  expression  of  His  life.  In 
all  there  was  perfect  harmony.  But  there  at  the 
cross  was  the  supreme  test.  The  prayer  of  Geth- 
semane  was  still  trembling  on  His  lips:  "Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me.  Never- 
theless, not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done."  Into  the 
shadow  He  went  with  the  cry:  "  My  God,  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "    It  sounds  like  an 


THE  GLOEIOUS  DEATH  91 

echo  from  the  Old  Testament.  ''  Though  he  slay 
me,  yet  will  I  trust  him."  ''  This  he  said,  signify- 
ing by  what  death  he  should  glorify  God." 

Christ's  death  was  His  glorious  triumph  because 
by  it  He  revealed  to  men  the  fact  that  God  was  a 
Father.  It  was  this  that  He  came  to  accomplish. 
He  said:  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father."  There  is  nothing  that  so  glorifies  God  as 
this  discovery  not  that  God  has  power  and  wisdom 
and  knowledge  and  holiness  and  truth,  but  that  He 
is  a  Father.  There  on  the  cross  Jesus  made  the 
supreme  revelation  of  God.  He  scattered  the 
mists.  He  tore  away  the  veil.  He  let  us  gaze  full 
upon  the  uncovered  face  of  deity,  and  as  the  spirit 
beheld,  it  cried:  "  Abba  Father !  " 

Christ's  triumphant  death  gives  back  to  God  His 
wayward,  wandering  children.  His  death  was  the 
atonement,  the  at-one-ment,  the  great  reconcilia- 
tion. By  His  stripes  we  are  healed.  His  blood 
cleanses  us  from  all  sin.  Through  Christ's  death 
the  lost  sinner  is  saved.  What  a  chant  rises  from 
the  ransomed  throng  who  have  washed  their  robes 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb, 
and  who  sing:  "  Glory  and  honour  and  power  be 
unto  him!"  And  they  sing  thus  signifying  by 
what  death  He  should  glorify  God ! 

The  Adoration  of  the  Cross 

The  world  has  long  since  come  to  worship  the 
penal  scars  of  the  crucified  Christ.     Jesus  Who 


92  THE  GLOEIOUS  DEATH 

died  on  Calvary  is  the  Hero  of  the  race.  Every- 
thing looks  His  way.  He  is  the  Leader  and 
Saviour  of  mankind.  His  name  is  above  every 
name,  and  His  kingdom  of  fraternity  and  peace 
is  the  dream  of  the  nation. 

Christ  is  the  world's  Hero  because  He  died, — 
not  because  He  was  cradled  in  Bethlehem,  not  be- 
cause He  lived  in  Nazareth  as  the  Son  of  a  car- 
penter, not  because  He  walked  the  dusty  roads  and 
climbed  the  rough  mountainsides  and  suffered  with 
the  poor  and  the  needy,  but  because  He  walked  the 
winding  thorn-path  to  the  cross-crowned  hill,  and 
there  laid  down  His  life.  For  this  we  adore  Him. 
His  disciples  did  not  try  to  hide  the  fact  that  He 
died.  They  proclaimed  it.  Woe  to  the  Church 
should  it  ever  come  to  obscure  or  apologize  for  the 
death  of  Christ! 

It  is  the  cross  that  is  the  symbol  of  power, — not 
the  manger  cradle,  not  the  sunshine  throne,  but  the 
cross,  the  blood-stained,  shadowed  cross  on  which 
He  died.  It  is  the  cross  that  crowns  our  church 
spires  with  hope.  It  is  the  cross  that  waves  on  our 
battle  flags.  And  it  is  the  cross  we  wear  on  our 
hearts. 

It  is  the  death  of  Christ  we  hallow  in  the  com- 
munion. The  sacramental  symbols  speak  to  us  not 
so  much  of  the  morn  when  the  startled  shepherds 
came  nor  of  the  night  when  the  wise  men  knelt 
at  the  stable  shrine  nor  of  the  hour  when  the  mul- 
titudes thronged  Him  by  the  lakeside  nor  of  the 


THE  GLOEIOTJS  DEATH  93 

day  He  made  His  triumphal  entry  through  the 
waving  palms  into  Jerusalem,  but  of  that  dark  hour 
when  the  sun  hid  its  face  and  the  dead  walked  the 
earth  and  Jesus  hanging  between  heaven  and  earth 
gave  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.  "  For  as  often 
as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  show 
the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 

Let  us  not  obscure  the  cross  nor  make  little  of 
that  of  which  Christ  makes  much.  Let  us  not  fear 
death,  not  because  death  is  unreal,  but  because  it  is 
real,  because  being  real,  Christ  has  tasted  death  for 
every  man,  and  by  making  death  tell  the  story  of 
God's  love,  and  by  making  death  open  wide  to 
sinners  the  gates  of  life,  has  made  death  glorious. 

What  is  Christ's  death  to  me?  I  study  His 
teachings,  admire  His  example,  praise  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  proclaim  the  kingdom  of  fraternity, 
but  what  is  it  to  me  that  He  Who  said  all  this  and 
did  all  this,  Who  gave  the  world  the  secret  of  the 
new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  and  Who  lived  the 
fairest  life  the  world  has  known,  hung  in  loneli- 
ness on  a  cross  and  poured  out  His  life  unto  death? 
What  is  it  to  me  that  Christ  died,  died  for  me  ? 

Let  us  gather  around  the  cross  and  speak  in 
whispers  and  say  to  our  hearts:  "  He  died  for  me.*' 
Let  us  look  on  the  penal  scars  of  Calvary  and  wor- 
ship Him.  As  we  see  the  print  of  the  nails  let  us 
adore  Him.  As  we  see  the  halo  on  His  brow  and 
the  love  light  In  His  face,  as  we  eat  the  bread  and 
drink  the  cup  to  show  forth  His  death,  let  our 


94  THE  GLOEIOUS  DEATH 

hearts  be  singing  the  old  song  of  a  green  hill  far 
away,  where  Jesus  died 

** — that  we  might  be  forgiven 
He  died  to  make  us  good, 
That  we  might  go  at  last  to  heaven, 
Saved  by  His  precious  blood !  " 


XIII 
TAKING  CHRIST  FROM  THE  CROSS 

"  He  came  therefore  and  took  the  body  of  Jesus." 

—John  19:38. 

THIS  verse  hangs  two  pictures  on  the  wall. 
The  first  is  the  picture  of  Christ  in  the 
hands  of  His  enemies.  They  are  nailing 
Him  to  the  cross.  The  rude  scaffold  is  silhouetted 
against  the  sky.  To  the  cross  on  the  right  with 
heavy  thongs  they  bind  a  thief.  To  the  cross  on 
the  left  they  do  likewise.  Then  they  lift  the  cen- 
tral cross  from  its  place,  and  laying  it  down  on  the 
ground  they  stretch  their  victim  on  its  gaunt  tim- 
bers, and  instead  of  thongs  they  drive  the  nails 
through  His  quivering  flesh.  Then  they  lift  the 
tree  with  its  human  burden,  and  with  a  jar  of 
keenest  torture  they  drop  the  cross  to  its  place. 

Christ  in  the  Hands  of  His  Enemies 

For  three  long  hours  Christ  hung  there  between 
heaven  and  earth  In  sacrificial  expiation  for  human 
guilt.  The  blistering  sun  beat  down  on  His 
fevered,  aching  body,  until  He  cried:  "  I  thirst!  " 
The  crowd  of  sightseers  went  by  wagging  their 
heads  and  saying:  "  He  saved  others,  himself  he 
cannot  save."    His  executioners  sat  down  before 

95 


96     TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CROSS 

the  suffering  Christ,  and  gambled  for  His  gar- 
ments. Above  all  this  from  the  pale  lips  of  the 
crucified  came  the  prayer:  **  Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do!  "  And  one  who 
saw  all  this  was  converted,  until  across  his  lips, 
stained  often  with  profanity,  passed  the  prayer: 
**  Remember  me !  "  And  a  Roman  soldier  who 
was  enough  of  a  man  to  scorn  hypocrisy  and  wor- 
ship heroism  looked  up  into  Christ's  face  and  said: 
*'  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God!  " 

Then  by  and  by  the  little  group  of  friends  watch- 
ing yonder  in  the  distance  draw  nearer  until  they 
talk  to  Him  and  look  through  streaming  eyes  into 
the  face  they  love.  Among  them  is  His  mother, 
she  who  held  Him  in  her  arms  that  wondrous 
night  the  shepherds  came,  who  saw  the  homage  of 
the  Magi  for  her  Hero  Child,  who  noted  His 
every  act  and  word  during  those  happy  years  at 
Nazareth  and  followed  Him  always  with  her  heart. 
This  is  the  tragic  end  of  it  all.  As  they  wait  there 
while  the  shadows  deepen  about  them  Jesus  safe- 
guards the  future  of  His  human  mother  as  He 
gives  her  to  John's  care,  saying:  "  Woman,  behold 
thy  son,"  and  then  to  John:  "  Behold  thy  mother.'* 
Then  He  seems  to  turn  from  His  human  mother  to 
His  divine  Father,  only  to  find  the  face  turned 
away,  until  in  His  loneliness  He  cries:  "  My  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  Soon  the  worn 
body  falls  into  the  arms  of  death  waiting  to  re- 
ceive it,  but  in  that  moment  the  spirit  evades  death, 


TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CEOSS      97 

and  while  leaving  His  body  in  death's  arms,  Christ 
cries;  "Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit.*'  "  And  having  said  this,  he  gave  up  the 
ghost."  "  It  is  finished."  The  price  has  been  paid. 
Christ  has  died  on  the  cross.  Directly  a  Roman 
soldier  in  wanton  brutality  will  drive  his  spear  into 
the  dead  Christ's  side,  and  there  will  pour  out 
blood  mingled  with  water.  The  Saviour's  heart 
was  broken. 

Christ  in  the  Hands  of  His  Friends 

The  second  picture  is  that  of  Christ  in  the  hands 
of  His  friends.  They  are  taking  Him  from  the 
cross.  Who  will  have  courage  enough  for  that 
subHme  devotion?  He  must  risk  his  own  life  who 
attempts  it.  He  must  brave  the  crowd  which  this 
morning  shouted:  "Crucify  Him!"  He  must 
face  the  hate  which  drove  the  nails  into  His  hands. 
One  must  jeopardize  his  position,  his  property,  life 
itself,  to  stand  by  that  central  cross  and  say  to 
Annas  and  Caiaphas  and  Pilate  and  Herod  and  the 
mob:  "You  have  killed  Him,  but  though  He  be 
dead,  I  worship  Him  still !  "  Where  are  those  who 
will  risk  all  to  save  the  body  of  Christ  from  a 
pauper's  grave  ? 

Who  will  have  influence  enough  to  secure  per- 
mission from  Christ's  enemies  to  pay  such  a 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Jesus?  Doubtless  His 
disciples  at  last  are  ready  to  die  for  Him ;  they  will 
face  the  crowd  and  say  what  needs  to  be  said,  even 


98     TAKING  CHRIST  FROM  THE  CROSS 

though  it  may  mean  that  they  must  walk  to-mor- 
row the  sorrowful  way  to  their  own  Calvary.  But 
they  are  without  influence.  Should  they  ask 
Pilate  for  the  body  of  Jesus,  his  answer  would 
doubtless  be  to  order  them  to  jail.  The  petition 
must  come  from  a  man  whose  standing  is  such 
that  Pilate  will  cringe. 

Thus  it  was  that  Joseph  of  Arimathea  is  the 
disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews, 
who  finds  himself,  and  shaking  off  his  timidity, 
emerges  into  the  open.  In  the  hour  of  his  Master's 
defeat,  Joseph  proclaims  his  faith.  He  is  wealthy 
and  influential,  and  at  last  he  is  courageous.  He 
goes  to  Pilate  and  begs  the  dead  body  of  Jesus. 
Then  with  Nicodemus,  another  secret  disciple  who 
had  come  to  Jesus  by  night,  but  who  is  going  now 
in  the  blazing  day  in  the  fierce  light  of  the  sensa- 
tion that  was  sweeping  Jerusalem,  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea goes  to  take  Christ  from  the  cross. 

Doubtless  these  two  men  had  other  of  Christ's 
disciples  to  assist  them  in  this  blessed  ministry. 
Tenderly  and  lovingly  they  lift  the  dear  form  from 
that  scaffold  of  expiation.  Reverently  they  pre- 
pare it  for  entombment.  Then  Joseph  says: 
"  Yonder  in  my  garden  amid  the  blooming  flowers 
under  the  hillside  is  the  tomb  in  which  I  had 
thought  my  own  body  might  rest  when  at  last  God 
bids  me  come.  The  sepulchre  is  new.  It  is  hewn 
from  the  solid  rock.  It  is  undefiled,  for  in  it  was 
man  never  yet  laid.    It  overlooks  the  valley  and 


TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CEOSS      99' 

commands  the  distant  hills,  and  around  the  door 
the  vines  are  climbing  and  near  by  the  lilies  soon 
will  be  in  blossom.  Let  us  lay  His  precious  body 
there.'* 

Thus  they  took  Christ's  body  from  the  cross  and 
laid  it  in  Joseph's  tomb.  These  are  the  two  pic- 
tures which  hang  before  our  faith, — the  picture  of 
Christ  in  the  hands  of  His  enemies  and  the  picture 
of  Christ  in  the  hands  of  His  friends. 

In  Which  Picture? 

Every  one  of  us  is  in  one  or  the  other  of  these 
pictures.  On  must  take  some  attitude  toward 
Christ.  He  must  be  either  for  Him  or  against 
Him,  for  Christ  is  unavoidable. 

Are  we  nailing  Him  to  the  cross?  The  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  speaks  of  those  who 
crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh.  They  make  Cal- 
vary continuous.  They  prolong  the  crucifixion 
scene  and  lengthen  it  out  on  the  canvas  of  time. 
We  are  told  who  these  are.  They  were  once  en- 
lightened. They  have  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift. 
They  were  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
They  have  tasted  the  good  word  of  God  and  the 
powers  of  the  world  to  come.  But  they  have 
fallen  away  from  all  this.  They  have  despised  and 
rejected  the  values  there  presented,  and  doing  so, 
they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh 
and  put  Him  to  an  open  shame. 

It  was  bad  enough  to  crucify  Christ  the  first 


100    TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CEOSS 

time,  to  be  a  Pilate,  a  Caiaphas,  to  be  the  soldiers 
who  drove  the  nails  and  cast  lots  for  His  robe,  to 
belong  to  the  crowd  who  passed  by  wagging  their 
heads.  But  to  do  this  now  after  all  the  light  and 
love  of  two  thousand  years  have  rested  on  that 
scene  is  to  incur  a  greater  condemnation.  Can  it 
be  possible  for  one  thus  to  treat  Jesus?  Surely  I 
could  never  nail  Him  to  the  cross,  and  yet  he  that 
is  not  for  is  against. 

Let  us  pray  that  we  may  be  of  the  company  of 
those  who  took  Christ  from  the  cross.  Have  we 
enough  courage  for  that  devotion,  enough  heroism 
to  face  the  world  and  say:  "  This  despised  and  re- 
jected man  is  my  Saviour !  Let  men  think  of  Him 
or  of  me.  He  is  my  glorious  Redeemer.  For  His 
dear  name  I  will  live,  and  should  He  need  it,  I 
trust  I  may  have  grace  for  His  glorious  cause  to 
die!" 

Christ  would  have  us  take  Him  from  the  cross. 
He  has  paid  our  debt.  The  atonement  is  finished. 
The  work  on  Calvary  is  complete,  but  not  His 
work  among  men.  He  is  to  leave  the  cross  for 
the  street,  the  home,  the  school,  the  office,  the 
world,  and  we  who  are  His  friends  must  take  Him 
there. 

He  would  have  us  take  Him  from  the  cross,  not 
lay  Him  in  another  splendid  tomb,  as  I  fear  we 
sometimes  imagine,  in  some  grand  cathedral  which 
is  in  reality  a  mausoleum.  What  He  wants  is  for 
His  people  to  translate  Him,  His  ideals,  His  love, 


TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CEOSS    101 

His  strength,  His  law  of  sacrifice,  His  sympathy 
and  tenderness  and  forgiveness  into  the  life  of  this 
weary,  sin-smitten  world. 

We  are  to  take  Him  from  the  cross  to  the  throne. 
He  is  to  reign  until  He  has  put  all  enemies  under 
His  feet.  He  is  to  found  a  kingdom,  to  wear  a 
crown  and  wield  a  sceptre.  The  cross  merely 
marks  the  road  to  power,  and  to  His  disciples  is 
given  the  act  not  of  entombment  but  of  enthrone- 
ment and  of  coronation. 

The  MesSz\ge  of  Communion 

The  holy  communion  speaks  to  us  of  both  pic- 
tures. It  speaks  of  Christ  on  the  cross.  These 
sacramental  symbols  are  a  picture  story  of  His 
passion.  They  tell  us  how  He  suffered.  H  we 
listen  to  them,  they  will  tell  us  all  that  is  in  the 
first  picture,  of  how  He  died.  They  tell  us  that  He 
died  for  us  that  we  might  be  forgiven,  redeemed, 
and  made  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Al- 
mighty. 

It  also  speaks  to  us  of  taking  Christ  from  the 
cross.  The  message  of  the  risen  Christ  was:  "  Go 
ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  This,  too,  is  the  message  of  the  em- 
blems. The  Christ  Who  died  must  live.  We 
must  preach  Him  until  He  lives  in  every  man  and 
in  every  land  and  in  all  the  life  of  the  world.  We 
must  put  Him  on  the  throne  until  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  are  His  kingdoms.     We  must  make 


102    TAKING  CHEIST  FEOM  THE  CEOSS 

Christ  King.  In  the  observance  of  the  sacrament 
the  heart  that  loves  Christ  is  singing  under  its 
breath:  "Oh,  sacred  Head,  once  wounded,"  but  it 
is  also  singing  in  sublime  expectation: 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run." 


XIV 
THE  HUMAN  CHRIST 

"And  Jesus  ivent  forth  and  saw  a  great  multitude,  and  was 
moved  ivith  compassion  toward  them^  and  he  healed  their 
sick." — Matthew  14 :  14. 

JESUS  was  worn  out  with  His  work.  He  was 
trying  to  get  away  from  the  crowd  for  a  bit 
of  rest.  His  nerves  were  on  edge.  He  must 
have  quiet  and  a  chance  to  relax  from  the  awful 
strain  and  tax  the  insistent  and  ceaseless  throngs 
made  on  Him.  And  so  He  turns  His  face  toward 
the  desert.  Scarcely  have  His  tired  body  and  spent 
spirit  yielded  to  repose  when  there  they  are.  The 
crowds  have  invaded  His  desert.  They  are  violat- 
ing His  sanctuary,  swarming  about  Him,  clamour- 
ing to  see  Him,  demanding  His  attention.  They 
will  give  Him  no  rest. 

What  did  Jesus  say?  Did  He  issue  an  order  to 
drive  them  away?  Did  He  say:  "These  people 
have  no  consideration.  They  are  selfish.  They  are 
pitiless.  They  would  have  me  die  in  my  tracks. 
I  have  done  enough.  I  am  worn  out.  Send  them 
away.  Tell  them  to  be  quiet.  Stop  their  noise 
that  I  may  sleep.  Get  rid  of  them  somehow,  for  I 
must  rest "  ? 

103 


104  THE  HUMAN  CHEIST 

Had  we  been  in  His  place,  it  is  something  like 
this  we  would  have  said.  We  have  little  patience 
with  any  one  who  disturbs  our  repose.  A  bill  was 
once  introduced  into  the  Legislature  of  North 
Carolina  forbidding  the  running  of  trains  at  night 
on  a  certain  branch  of  the  Southern  Railway,  be- 
cause the  noise  of  the  trains  disturbed  the  rest  of 
a  certain  wealthy  and  well-known  citizen  of  the  old 
North  State.  Few  are  influential  enough  to  secure 
legislation  that  will  paralyze  public  traffic  for  their 
private  benefit.  And  yet  when  worn  out  with 
work,  and  with  nerves  on  edge,  one  does  feel  he  has 
a  right  to  a  bit  of  quiet.  Nevertheless,  Jesus  never 
thought  of  Himself.  The  crowds  have  broken  in 
on  His  rest.  How  does  He  take  it?  "And  Jesus 
went  forth  and  saw  a  great  multitude,  and  was 
moved  with  compassion  toward  them,  and  he 
healed  their  sick." 

The  Compassion  of  Christ 

When  Jesus  looked  out  on  the  crowd.  He  saw 
plenty  to  criticize,  much  that  was  wrong,  a  lot  that 
was  selfish,  not  a  little  that  was  vile. 

He  saw  Sabbath-breakers,  people  who  had  no 
respect  for  the  Fourth  Commandment,  who  made 
the  day  of  rest  a  season  of  godless  gain  and  pleas- 
ure. Some  seem  to  regard  Sabbath  desecration  as 
a  modern  iniquity.  It  is  the  most  ancient  of  trans- 
gressions. 

He  saw  people  who  were  dishonest  in  business. 


THE  HUMAN  CHRIST  106 

who  did  not  hesitate  to  cheat  and  lie  in  order  to 
make  money,  who  overcharged,  who  profiteered, 
who  were  not  wilHng  to  pay  their  honest  debts, 
who  were  guilty  of  duplicity  and  rascality.  These 
things  went  on  in  the  good  old  days  that  are  gone. 

He  saw  corrupt  politicians.  We  think  some  of 
the  political  deals  of  our  day  register  the  last  act 
in  the  betrayal  of  a  public  trust,  but  present-day 
politics  is  a  Sunday-school  affair  in  comparison 
with  what  went  on  in  Christ's  time. 

He  saw  worldliness.  He  saw  the  vain  show. 
He  saw  people  who  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink, 
and  who  rose  up  to  play.  He  saw  the  revel  of 
Bacchus  and  the  riot  of  passion.  It  was  a  day 
when  a  dancing  girl  won  as  her  trophy  the  drip- 
ping head  of  John  the  Baptist,  when  the  ritual  of 
religion  consisted  in  the  practice  of  the  rites  of  the 
goddess  of  lust. 

He  saw  hypocrisy.  He  saw  men  wearing  the 
liverv  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in.  He  saw 
rascality  piously  veneering  itself,  and  scoundrels 
hiding  behind  the  skirts  of  priests,  and  hands 
stained  with  crime  serving  at  the  altar,  and  lips 
foul  with  blasphemy  reciting  the  creed.  He  saw 
much  to  criticize.  But  the  strange  thing  is  that  no 
criticism  fell  from  His  lips. 

He  was  moved  with  compassion.  He  was 
touched  with  pity.  He  was  filled  with  a  sadness 
that  sometimes  could  express  itself  only  in  tears. 
The  sin  of  the  world  did  not  make  Him  bitten 


106  THE  HUMAN  CHEIST 

Christ  was  not  censorious.  The  only  things  which 
ever  stirred  Him  to  anger  and  denunciation  were 
bigotry  and  hypocrisy.  Even  these  did  not  lead 
Him  to  gather  His  garments  about  Him  with  a 
*'  holier-than-thou  "  attitude  to  life  and  withdraw 
from  the  crowd.  Instead  of  drawing  back,  He 
pushed  in  where  the  crowd  was,  right  into  the  thick 
of  soiled  and  stained  and  defeated  humanity. 

This  does  not  mean  that  He  was  tolerant  toward 
sin.  How  could  He  be?  He  came  to  fight  it,  to 
disarm  it  of  its  power,  to  destroy  its  hold  on  human 
life,  to  die  Himself  on  the  accursed  cross  that  He 
might  lift  from  its  victims  the  curse  of  sin.  One 
does  not  understand  the  compassion  of  Jesus  who 
thinks  it  means  a  pale  morality.  Christ  was  sin- 
less. With  Him,  holiness  was  a  passion.  The  piti- 
ful Christ  was  pitiless  toward  sin. 

But  He  was  patient  with  the  sinner.  He  dis- 
tinguished between  sin  and  the  sinner.  It  is  a  dis- 
tinction we  sometimes  fail  to  make,  and  failing,  we 
become  critical  and  censorious  instead  of  compas- 
sionate. We  stand  off  with  a  self-righteous  air 
and  deliver  ourselves  of  a  gloomy  jeremiad  of  our 
times,  of  a  bitter  tirade  against  our  fellow-men,  of 
a  fierce  denunciation  of  the  sins  and  shortcomings 
of  Sabbath-breakers  and  profiteers,  of  grafters  and 
worldlings  and  hypocrites.  The  result  is,  we  leave 
the  sick  world  as  sick  and  sad  and  hopeless  as  we 
found  it.  It  was  not  so  with  Jesus.  He  saw  a 
great  multitude  and  was  moved  with  compassion. 


THE  HUMAN  CHEIST  107 

The  Helping  Cpirist 

Jesus  helped  people  because  He  had  compassion 
on  them.  This  was  His  method  of  treatment.  It 
was  His  prescription  for  a  broken  and  desperate 
and  despairing  world.  He  administered  patience 
and  love.  Read  the  Gospel  story.  Now  He  sees 
the  people  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd,  and  He 
has  compassion.  Now  it  is  a  leper,  ostracized  from 
his  kind,  and  He  has  compassion.  Yonder  two 
blind  men  are  crying  for  mercy,  and  He  has  com- 
passion. Here  is  a  stained  girl  from  the  street, 
and  Jesus  sees  her  and  has  compassion  on  her. 

He  has  compassion  because  He  sees  in  every 
sinner  God's  child,  estranged,  wayward,  lost,  but 
still  with  the  tracery  of  the  Father  there.  He  sees 
in  every  rich  man  Zaccheus,  a  potential  philan- 
thropist. He  sees  in  labouring  men  what  He  saw 
in  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  apostles,  evangelists, 
world-builders.  He  saw  in  the  bedeviled  de- 
moniac of  the  tomb  not  a  poor  creature  to  be  sent 
to  an  insane  asylum,  but  a  human  being  to  be 
emancipated,  and  who,  when  clothed  and  in  his 
right  mind,  was  to  become  a  witness  for  his  Re- 
deemer. He  saw  in  the  girl  of  the  street  not  an 
outcast  to  be  stoned  by  society's  cold  and  merci- 
less throng,  but  one  who  might  become  an  angel 
of  mercy.  He  saw  in  the  thief  on  the  cross  a  citi- 
zen of  Paradise.  All  this  He  saw  because  He  was 
moved  with  compassion. 

Jesus  saw  this  godlike  side  of  life  being  ignored. 


108  THE  HUMAN  CHEIST 

repressed,  despised,  retarded,  proscribed,  defeated. 
This  is  what  saddened  Him.  And  He  saw  that  the 
way  to  release  it  and  to  enable  it  to  gain  the  ascend- 
ency in  the  soul  was  not  to  turn  upon  it  the  fierce 
wrath  of  God,  but  to  summon  it  with  gentle  love. 
Hence  as  Jesus  moved  among  men,  He  did  more 
than  rebuke  them,  more  than  condemn.  He  had 
compassion  on  them,  and  saved  them.  He  helped 
them  to  find  themselves  and  become  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  their  Heavenly  Father. 

The  Human  Christ 
Jesus  had  compassion  because  He  was  human. 
At  first  blush  this  statement  may  be  challenged,  but 
reflection  will  vindicate  it.  Jesus  was  *'  tempted  in 
all  points  like  as  we  are."  He  was  widely  human. 
His  experience  swept  the  whole  gamut  of  human 
life.  Therefore  He  can  be  touched  with  the  feel- 
ing of  our  infirmities.  He  can  feel  as  we  feel,  and 
feeling  thus.  He  has  compassion.  This  is  the  great 
lesson  of  the  incarnation.  It  is  godhood  becoming 
human.  It  is  not  godhood  becoming  censorious 
and  denunciatory,  but  human.  I  was  talking  one 
day  with  a  Jew  who  had  accepted  Christ  in  one  of 
my  meetings.  He  was  describing  how  Christ  ap- 
pealed to  him.  He  said:  "Jesus  has  humanized 
the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament."  It  seemed  to 
me  a  fine  characterization  of  the  purpose  of  the  in- 
carnation. Christ  did  not  found  a  new  religion, 
but  He  did  humanize  the  religion  of  the  Old  Tes- 


THE  HUMAN  CHBIST  109 

tament.  Some  people  are  living  back  there.  They 
are  hard,  hard  as  Sinai.  Jesus  did  not  repeal  the 
moral  law,  but  He  did  humanize  it.  He  did  say: 
"  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 

And  so,  as  He  looks  out  on  the  crowd,  Jesus  sees 
people,  not  the  multitude,  but  men  and  women  and 
children,  not  social  units,  but  fathers  and  mothers 
and  husbands  and  wives  and  brothers  and  sisters 
and  neighbors  and  friends.  He  singles  us  out  of 
the  crowd.  He  sees  the  old  man  moving  with 
slow  step  down  life's  last  hill,  and  sympathizes 
with  his  attitude  to  life.  He  sees  the  mother 
crooning  over  a  baby  In  her  arms,  and  understands 
her  yearning  and  hope.  He  sees  the  father  as  he 
says  good-bye  to  the  boy  who  Is  leaving  home,  and 
knows  all  that  gathers  around  that  parting.  He 
sees  the  labourer  as  he  leaves  for  his  work  In  the 
morning,  and  enters  with  him  Into  his  day  of  toil. 
He  sees  the  criminal  behind  the  bars,  and  enters 
into  sympathy  with  him.  And  because  Jesus  sees 
all  this,  not  merely  civilization  and  laws  and  na- 
tions, but  people.  He  has  pity. 

He  sees  this  because  He  Is  so  human.  His  hu- 
manity Is  big,  high,  wide,  capacious,  tender.  Here 
is  the  great  proof  of  His  godhood.  There  are 
those,  perhaps,  who  believe  In  Jesus  because  of  His 
miracles.  I  believe  In  the  miracles  because  of 
Jesus.  Christ  Is  the  greatest  argument  for  Christi- 
anity. When  He  asked  Peter:  "Whom  do  men 
say  that  I  the  Son  of  Man  am?"  Peter  replied: 


110  THE  HUMAN  CHEIST 

*'  Son  of  God !  "  He  seems  to  say:  ''  Thou  art  so 
human,  Thy  humanity  is  so  big,  so  racial,  so  sub- 
lime, so  all-embracing,  that  Thou  art  more  than 
Son  of  Man:  Thou  art  God !  " 

It  is  this  gentle,  human  Christ  Who  comes  to 
meet  us  as  we  gather  around  the  holy  table.  He 
would  sit  with  us  here  at  the  feast.  He  would  be 
as  friendly  with  us  as  with  that  little  group  on  the 
night  of  the  first  supper.  He  is  our  Redeemer,  but 
He  is  our  Elder  Brother,  too.  He  is  our  closest 
comrade,  and  always  with  us. 

There  are  a  lot  of  lonely  people  in  the  world,  and 
perhaps  because  they  are  lonely,  some  of  them  are 
bad.  God  made  us  to  be  social  beings.  Solitude 
is  hell.  The  prodigal  reached  the  depths  when 
*'  no  man  gave  unto  him."  Some  one  has  painted 
a  picture  of  two  polar  bears  on  a  field  of  ice.  One 
of  the  bears  is  dead,  starved  to  death  in  the  bleak 
Arctic  world,  and  his  mate  stands  beside  him  look- 
ing down  with  an  expression,  not  of  fear  so  much 
as  of  pain.  The  artist  calls  his  picture  "  Solitude." 
When  one  feels  that  none  is  left  to  care,  it  is  a 
frozen  world,  and  there  is  nothing  left  but  death. 
What  people  need  to-day  is  friendship  and  sym- 
pathy. It  is  the  human  Christ  Who  heals  the  hurts 
of  humanity,  and  He  heals  them  by  being  human. 
It  is  divine  to  be  human. 


XV 
THE  DIVINE  CHRIST 

"Who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery 
to  be  equal  with  God." — Phiuppians  2 :  6. 

THE  word  "  divinity "  has  been  greatly 
cheapened.  There  are  those  who  admit 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  but  who  deny  His 
deity.  There  are  those  who  admit  that  Christ  is 
divine,  but  who  claim  that  man  is  also  divine.  If 
Christ  is  divine  only  as  we  are,  then  He  was  a 
good  man,  but  no  more,  and  He  has  no  more  claim 
on  our  remembrance  than  thousands  of  others  who 
have  loved  and  served  and  suffered  and  died.  It  is 
a  God  we  remember  at  the  Holy  Supper. 

Laying  Aside  His  Godhood 

And  yet  Christ's  first  act  as  the  world's  Re- 
deemer was  to  lay  His  godhood  aside.  It  is  a 
strange  and  arresting  thing  said  by  Paul  in  his 
letter  to  the  Philippians ;  In  speaking  of  Christ,  he 
declares:  "  Who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God."  The  Ameri- 
can revision  translates  It:  "Being  on  an  equality 
with  God."  And  Dr.  Moffatt  uses  the  luminous 
phrase:  "  Though  He  was  divine  by  nature,  He  did 

III 


112  THE  DIVINE  CHEIST 

not  snatch  at  equality  with  God,  but  emptied  Him- 
self." All  of  these  translations,  however,  are  but 
different  ways  of  saying  that  in  His  earthly  min- 
istry Jesus  deliberately  laid  His  godhood  aside. 
He  did  not  draw  on  His  divine  powers  to  protect 
and  sustain  Himself  during  the  period  of  His  temp- 
tation and  suffering.  His  human  experience  was 
real.  His  agony  on  the  cross  was  actual.  Jesus 
was  not  an  actor  playing  a  part.  He  was  a  self- 
elected  sufferer  vicariously  enduring  the  penalty  of 
sin  for  the  human  race. 

Because  He  laid  His  godhood  aside  in  facing  His 
passion,  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  He  had  any 
doubt  about  His  deity.  He  was  so  certain  of  that 
that  He  could  afford  to  empty  Himself.  Neither 
are  we  to  conclude  that  in  any  sense  He  ceased  to 
be  God.  How  could  He?  One  can  refrain  from 
exercising  certain  powers  which  he  possesses,  but 
he  does  not  thereby  cease  to  be  himself.  Nor  does 
it  mean  that  He  did  not  exercise  these  powers  for 
others.  Indeed  it  was  just  this  Christ  did  in  His 
divine  nature,  and  this  constituted  the  pathos  and 
grandeur  of  His  ministry.  He  fed  the  multitudes, 
but  He  declined  to  change  one  stone  to  bread  to 
end  His  own  fast.  He  healed  the  wounds  of 
others,  but  He  refused  to  staunch  His  own.  He 
raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  but  He  declined  to 
protect  Himself  against  death.  This  course  was 
not  accidental.  It  was  intentional.  Christ  was 
not  a  victim.     He  was  a  victor. 


THE  DIVINE  CHEIST  113 

And  so  this  strange  line  reciting  the  descent  of  a 
God  into  the  valley  of  humiliation  does  not  stop 
with  the  descent.  It  also  chants  His  ascent  toward 
the  heights  of  exaltation.  Indeed,  when  we  under- 
stand aright  Christ's  descent,  it  was  itself  an 
ascent.  Jesus  was  none  the  less  God  in  the  valley 
than  on  the  heights.  The  human  Christ  being  so 
capaciously,  so  transcendantly  human,  could  be 
none  other  than  the  divine  Christ.  And  so  Paul 
paints  both  portraits.  "  Who  being  in  the  form  of 
God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God, 
but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon 
him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men,  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man,  he  humbled  himself  and  became  obedient  unto 
death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross." 

"  Wherefore  God  hath  still  highly  exalted  him 
and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name, 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow, 
of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth,  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father." 

Recognizing  His  Godhood 
The  godhood  of  Jesus  is  not  something  for  us  to 
lay  aside.  Perhaps  some  one  may  ask:  "  How  do 
you  know  that  Jesus  is  God?  "  I  might  answer: 
"  I  believe  it.  I  believe  some  things  I  do  not  know. 
My  faith  is  that  Jesus  is  divine  as  well  as  human. 


114  THE  DIVINE  CHEIST 

But  if  this  faith  is  not  to  be  condemned  as  credu- 
lity, it  must  prove  its  reasonableness.  I  think  it 
can." 

I  believe  in  the  godhood  of  Jesus  because  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
the  Bible  does  not  anywhere  say  that  Jesus  is  God. 
One  may  admit  that  the  Bible  does  not  argue  the 
deity  of  Christ.  It  assumes  it.  It  takes  it  for 
granted,  and  in  certain  passages,  like  the  prelude  to 
John's  Gospel,  it  declares  it  in  the  clearest  and 
most  unmistakable  language. 

The  Bible  is  trustworthy.  It  has  been  tried  and 
tested  and  assailed  as  no  other  book,  and  it  has 
come  out  of  all  conflicts  victorious.  Shall  we  de- 
cline to  accept  its  testimony?  Shall  we  accept 
what  pleases  us  and  reject  of  the  Book  what  we 
dislike?  Shall  we  accept  what  it  says  about  the 
human  Christ  and  reject  what  it  says  about  the 
divine  Christ?  You  cannot  treat  the  Bible  that 
way.  You  cannot  claim  what  suits  you  and  repudi- 
ate what  disturbs  you. 

I  believe  in  the  godhood  of  Jesus  because  He 
said  things  which  only  a  God  has  a  right  to  say. 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.'*  "  I  and 
my  Father  are  one."  "  I  am  the  bread  of  life." 
"If  ye  abide  in  me  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 
you  shall  ask  what  ye  wall  and  it  shall  be  done  unto 
you."  These  words  do  not  sit  well  on  the  lips  of  a 
mere  man,  but  if  Jesus  is  God,  they  are  what  we 
would  expect  Him  to  say. 


THE  DIYINB  CHKIST  115 

I  believe  in  His  deity  because  He  did  things 
which  only  a  God  has  power  to  do.  He  worked 
miracles.  He  healed  disease.  He  cast  out  devils. 
He  raised  the  dead.  He  rose  from  the  dead.  One 
may  say  He  did  all  this  because  He  had  a  pro- 
founder  insight  into  the  working  of  nature's  laws. 
No  doubt  there  is  much  of  truth  in  the  statement. 
Probably  if  we  knew  what  Jesus  knew  we  might 
do  many  of  the  things  He  did.  And  we  might  find 
that  much  which  now  seems  miraculous  was  merely 
the  working  out  of  higher  laws.  Nevertheless,  is 
it  not  strange  that  Jesus  was  the  only  man  with 
this  knowledge?  How  did  that  peasant  Jew,  un- 
lettered, back  in  that  dim  age,  acquire  all  this 
knowledge?  Where  was  ever  a  school  that  could 
teach  what  Jesus  knew  ?  It  taxes  faith  more  to  be- 
lieve that  He  was  a  mere  man  who  did  this  than  it 
does  to  believe  in  His  deity. 

I  believe  in  His  godhood  because  no  other  man 
has  ever  been  what  Jesus  was.  He  is  admitted  to 
be  the  one  perfect  man  in  human  history.  There 
was  a  moral  grandeur  about  His  character  that  has 
never  been  matched.  He  towers  high  above  all  the 
other  teachers.  He  had  a  big  and  intimate  under- 
standing of  human  nature.  In  the  most  provincial 
land  and  of  a  most  provincial  race,  He  Himself  was 
cosmopolitan.  He  had  a  self-effacement  that  is 
the  despair  of  others.  If  He  is  only  human,  why 
is  He  the  only  human  to  be  this?  Why  are  we 
not  growing  other  men  bigger  and  better?     I  be- 


116  THE  DIVINE  CHEIST 

lieve  in  His  godhood  because  He  is  unmatched 
among  men. 

Not  only  so,  but  Jesus  is  doing  what  no  other 
man  can  do.  He  died  on  the  cross  two  thousand 
years  ago  and  was  buried,  but  in  His  name  men 
leave  all,  endure  all,  attempt  all.  Through  faith 
in  Him  the  world  is  getting  better.  Sinners  are 
changing.  Human  nature  is  regenerated.  Sorrow 
is  comforted.  Calamity  is  courageously  faced. 
Defeat  is  changed  to  victory.  Why  are  not  other 
men  able  to  inspire  this  in  their  followers? 
Mohammed,  Confucius,  Buddha,  have  left  a  dead 
world  in  their  trail,  but  Jesus  is  the  light  and  life  of 
men. 

Is  not  this  enough  to  vindicate  one's  faith 
against  a  charge  of  credulity  when  he  reverently 
declares:  "I  believe  that  Jesus  is  God!"  But  this 
IS  not  all.  There  comes  a  time  when  those  who  do 
His  will  can  say:  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed." 
I  am  as  certain  of  the  godhood  of  Christ  as  I  am 
of  any  fact  not  susceptible  of  mathematical  demon- 
stration. I  know  He  is  God  through  experience. 
This  is  the  highest  certitude.  The  senses  may  de- 
ceive us,  the  soul,  never. 

The  argument  for  the  deity  of  Christ  is  simple. 
Either  He  is  God  or  He  is  not.  If  He  is  not.  He 
was  either  deceived  about  Himself  or  He  was 
deceiving  others  about  Himself.  He  was  either 
mentally  unbalanced  or  an  impostor.  No  one  who 
studies  the  teachings  of  Jesus  can  accept  either  of 


7*«' 


THE  DIVINE  CHEIST  117 

those  alternatives.  Then  Jesus  was  God.  But  the 
soul  wants  more  than  argument.  It  wants  convic- 
tion and  assurance,  and  these  come  not  as  the  result 
of  a  mental  process  but  of  a  life-experience. 

Claiming  His  Godhood 

The  godhood  of  Jesus  is  something  to  claim. 
Let  us  not  be  so  absorbed  with  trying  to  prove  that 
Jesus  is  God  that  we  shall  fail  to  appropriate  the 
glorious  truth.  The  Bible  does  not  attempt  to 
prove  that  Jesus  is  God.  It  grandly  proceeds  on 
the  premise  of  His  deity.  On  the  last  great  day 
of  the  feast  Jesus  stood  and  said:  "If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  to  me  and  drink."  He  would 
have  us  approach  Him,  recognize  Him  that  He  is 
very  God  and  abundantly  able  to  supply  all  our 
needs. 

If  Jesus  is  God,  He  can  and  will  keep  His  prom- 
ises. We  can  bank  on  them.  All  that  He  taught 
is  true.  All  that  He  said  about  God  and  the  here- 
after is  dependable.  If  He  is  only  man,  He  may 
be  mistaken,  but  if  He  is  God,  there  is  certainty. 

If  Jesus  is  God,  He  can  save  us.  He  can  for- 
give our  sins  and  change  our  natures.  He  can 
give  us  power  to  become  the  children  of  God.  He 
can  underwrite  destiny.  If  He  is  merely  a  man. 
His  influence  is  vague,  but  if  God,  He  is  the  mighty 
Redeemer. 

If  Jesus  is  God,  His  cause  will  triumph.  Noth- 
ing can  defeat  it.     The  world  will  come  His  way. 


118  THE  DIVINE  CHEIST 

Indeed,  it  is  coming  His  way.  Slowly  but  surely 
civilization  is  being  constructed  in  accordance  with 
His  teachings.  If  Jesus  is  merely  a  man,  there  is 
no  more  hope  for  the  triumph  of  His  teachings 
than  for  those  of  any  other  good  man,  but  if  He  be 
God,  His  cause  is  scheduled  for  victory,  and 
against  it  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail. 

Why  not  claim  the  godhood  of  Christ  and  make 
it  a  part  of  your  creed?  There  is  nothing  to  lose, 
but  much  to  gain.  It  is  better  to  have  a  great 
Christ  than  a  small  one.  What  if  there  are  doubts  ? 
Is  it  not  better  to  follow  faith  than  doubts  ?  Uni- 
tarianism  has  nothing  to  offer  that  the  old  Gospel 
does  not  offer,  but  there  is  much  that  it  would  take 
away.  Why  be  reduced  ?  If  one  is  to  take  chances 
either  way,  is  it  not  better  to  take  them  on  the  side 
of  our  hopes  than  of  our  fears? 

There  is  no  drawing  power  in  a  negation.  There 
is  no  lifting  and  inspiring  power  in  a  denial.  What 
the  world  needs  is  not  negations,  but  positions. 
Society  has  nothing  to  fear  from  faith  in  the  deity 
of  Christ.  Perhaps  some  one  may  say  that  it  has 
nothing  to  fear  from  a  denial  of  His  deity.  But 
has  it  anything  to  hope  from  such  denial?  There 
can  be  no  great  expectations  from  a  cult  that  en- 
gages to  do  for  one  only  what  he  can  do  for  him- 
self. The  sinner  needs  a  Saviour  who  has  power, 
who  is  able  to  reach  down  and  lift  up,  who  can 
transform  the  individual,  who  is  able  to  save  unto 
the  uttermost.     Such  is  Jesus. 


THE  DIVINE  CHRIST  119 

If  Jesus  is  God,  the  supernatural  becomes  natu- 
ral. I  can  understand  how  He  did  what  is  re- 
corded of  Him.  I  am  not  puzzled  by  what  has 
been  going  on  ever  since.  I  have  an  explanation 
of  the  marvellous  achievements  of  those  early  dis- 
ciples. I  am  not  surprised  that  they  faced  the 
dungeon  and  stake  without  a  fear,  and  that  the 
gospel  on  their  lips,  weak  men  though  they  were, 
conquered  the  earth.  But  if  Jesus  was  merely  a 
man,  one  of  ten  thousand  other  victims,  it  is  all  a 
hopeless  tangle. 

And  yet  salvation  is  not  through  a  dogma,  but 
a  person.  Jesus  did  not  say  believe  in  a  creed. 
He  said:  "  Come  to  me."  One  may  come  to  Him, 
even  though  he  may  have  intellectual  difficulties 
about  His  deity.  At  first  the  early  disciples  saw 
in  Jesus  only  His  humanity.  Then  later  as  they 
came  to  know  Him  better,  the  veil  lifted  and  they 
saw  God.  Let  us  receive  Him  for  all  that  He  is, 
and  for  all  that  He  can  do  for  us,  and  learn  to 
know  Him  by  living  Him. 

Thus  He  offers  Himself  to  us  at  the  holy  table, 
and  thus  He  offers  Himself  to  us  in  all  life.  He 
approaches  us  along  the  needs  that  are  nearest. 
He  ties  Himself  to  our  human  nature,  not  only  that 
He  may  know  us,  but  that  vje  may  know  Him, 
and  as  we  follow  Him  and  serve  Him  and  try  to  be 
like  Him,  the  light  breaks,  and  on  the  altar  stairs 
our  lips  are  saying:  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God !  " 


XVI 
WHY  CHRIST  IS  NOT  FORGOTTEN 

"  The  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins.'* 

— Matthew  9 : 6. 

THE  world  has  grown  so  accustomed  to  one 
of  its  strangest  events  as  to  regard  it  as 
ordinary  and  commonplace.  This  event 
is  the  sacramental  remembrance  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. At  best,  Jesus  was  not  widely  known,  and 
His  career  closed  in  apparently  hopeless  defeat. 
He  wrote  no  book.  He  organized  no  institution. 
He  founded  no  government.  He  created  no 
church.  He  left  behind  Him  non'e  of  those  signs 
and  monuments  by  which  the  fame  of  men  is  kept 
from  decay.  There  is  not  even  a  portrait  of  Jesus 
to  perpetuate  His  memory,  and  His  few  followers 
at  the  first  mutterings  of  storm  broke  in  dismay 
and  fled  to  cover. 

Yet  none  is  so  well  or  widely  or  lovingly  or  rev- 
erently remembered  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Nine- 
teen hundred  years  have  gone  by,  but  the  Man  of 
Galilee  is  not  forgotten.  To-day  His  followers 
are  more  numerous  and  His  glorious  fame  more 
secure  than  that  of  any  figure  that  has  ever  lifted 
its  face  along  the  skyline  of  history. 

120 


WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTEN     321 

The  High  Hour  of  Worship 

Jesus  is  not  only  not  forgotten,  but  to  remember 
Him  has  become  to  millions  of  people  their  most 
solemn  act  of  worship.  When  we  observe  the 
communion,  we  are  doing  what  Christ's  followers 
have  been  doing  ever  since  that  fateful  hour  long 
centuries  ago  when  in  the  upper  chamber  in  Jeru- 
salem on  the  night  of  the  betrayal,  on  the  eve  of 
the  crucifixion,  Jesus  passed  the  bread  and  the  wine 
to  His  disciples,  and  said:  "This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me." 

There  has  been  no  break  in  this  remembrance. 
The  clock  of  time  has  struck  no  hour  since  then 
that  has  found  earth  empty  of  the  thought  of 
Christ.  The  memory  of  Jesus  has  been  the  real 
apostolic  succession.  Down  the  steps  of  time  the 
saints  have  come,  bearing  aloft  the  Holy  Grail,  and 
chanting  faith's  recessional:  "  Lest  we  forget." 

In  every  land  where  Christianity  has  gone,  the 
sacrament  has  been  kept ;  no  matter  what  have  been 
the  customs  or  traditions  of  the  people,  no  matter 
who  their  sages  or  heroes  have  been,  the  one  name 
they  have  raised  to  hallowed  heights  and  the  one 
face  they  have  loved  best  have  been  the  name  and 
face  of  Jesus. 

He  has  been  remembered  by  all  classes  and  sta- 
tions and  conditions  of  men.  The  high  and  the  low 
have  broken  bread  from  the  same  loaf,  and  the  rich 
and  the  poor  have  touched  adoring  lips  to  the  same 
chalice.     They  have  bowed  at  one  altar  in  sweet 


122     WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTElSr 

friendship  of  the  name  they  loved,  and  they  have 
forgotten  there  their  differences. 

Sometimes  in  the  face  of  the  hardest  and  hottest 
opposition  the  sacrament  has  been  observed.  There 
are  times  when  it  meant  the  hazard  of  one's  life  to 
observe  the  Holy  Supper.  Hunted  by  persecution, 
driven  out  into  the  night,  fleeing  to  the  moors  and 
caves,  Christ's  followers  have  kept  the  feast.  They 
have  said:  *' We  will  risk  all.  We  will  lose  all, 
even  life  itself,  but  we  will  remember  Him;  and 
we  will  remember  Him  as  He  has  asked  us,  when 
He  said,  This  do."  They  have  felt  that  this  re- 
membrance of  their  Lord  was  faith's  holiest  hour 
and  the  soul's  most  solemn  act  of  worship. 

What  is  the  Explanation? 

Why  is  Christ  so  well  and  widely  and  lovingly 
remembered?  It  can  hardly  be  simply  because  He 
asked  it.  He  did  ask  it,  but  other  leaders  have 
made  requests  of  their  followers,  and  they  have 
been  forgotten.  There  are  other  things  which 
Christ  asked  of  His  followers,  which  His  followers 
have  left  undone. 

It  is  not  because  of  His  origin.  Christ's  birth 
was  wonderful  as  we  now  conceive  it,  but  it  did 
not  seem  so  marvellous  to  them.  Even  if  it  had, 
the  story  of  His  birth  could  hardly  keep  the  world 
spellbound  for  ages. 

It  is  not  for  His  miracles  that  He  is  remembered. 
If  that  were  all,  Christ  would  have  no  further  men- 


WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTEN     123 

tion  than  some  startling  headline.  Wonders  are 
over  in  seven  days.  The  world  refuses  to  be  per- 
manently amazed.     Marvels  soon  lose  their  edge. 

It  is  not  because  of  His  teachings  that  Jesus' 
memory  is  kept  fresh.  He  was  the  world's  great- 
est teacher,  but  people  do  not  worship  teachers. 
They  admire  and  study  them.  There  is  something 
in  Christ  greater  than  anything  He  ever  taught. 

It  is  not  even  His  sufferings.  There  was  His 
holiest  hour.  It  is  the  suffering  face  of  the 
marred  Christ  which  appears  in  the  sacrament, — 
not  teacher,  not  wonder-worker,  not  saint,  not 
peasant,  but  the  thorn-crowned,  sorrow-scarred 
face  of  the  great  sufferer.  Yet  even  this  is  not 
enough  to  make  His  memory  immortal.  Others 
have  suffered  and  been  forgotten. 

It  is  not  even  His  holy  life.  His  life  was  un- 
equalled, but  if  that  were  all,  Christ  would  be  little 
more  than  a  sacred  relic.  Men  canonize  their 
saints,  and  regard  their  duty  as  fully  done.  We 
must  look  beyond  all  these  for  the  explanation. 

A  Saviour 
Christ  is  not  forgotten  because  He  has  power  on 
earth  to  forgive  sins.  He  alone  has  this  power. 
He  is  able  to  put  a  broken-down  soul  on  its  feet 
again,  to  build  up  into  decency  and  respectability 
and  happiness  the  character  that  has  fallen  into 
decay.  He  is  able  to  open  the  blind  eyes  of  a 
sightless  soul,  to  unstop  the  ears  of  the  deaf,  to 


124     WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTEN 

tear  away  the  veil  of  doubt  which  shrouds  the 
minds  that  grope  in  darkness,  to  renew  the  para- 
lyzed will,  to  emancipate  the  bondaged  heart,  to 
shake  off  the  chains  of  evil  habit,  and  sunder  the 
death  bands,  and  summon  from  the  tomb  of  de- 
spair the  soul  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sin. 

Christ  is  able  to  do  this, — not  merely  to  promise 
it.  Any  religion  can  promise  it.  Christ  makes 
good  not  in  some  distant  world,  not  in  some  un- 
canny realm.  Any  religion  can  promise  to  save 
you  after  death.  But  Christ  promises  to  save  us 
on  earth,  and  He  keeps  His  promise. 

This  is  where  Jesus  comes  to  the  throne.  Spec- 
ulate as  you  will  about  the  miracles  of  His  Person, 
the  virgin  birth,  the  dual  nature,  the  resurrection, 
explain  as  you  may  the  miracles  of  His  ministry, 
healing  the  sick,  feeding  the  multitude,  casting  out 
devils,  raising  the  dead,  philosophize  as  you  may 
about  His  teachings  and  seem  to  find  the  germ  of 
all  Christ  taught  in  some  older  text-book,  criticize 
His  followers,  allow  doubt  to  have  its  say  and  way, 
but  at  last  you  strike  against  a  dead  wall.  There 
is  one  fact  which  declines  to  yield.  It  is  the  fact 
that  "  the  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  for- 
give sins." 

The  thing  which  Christ  is  doing  is  the  thing 
which  only  a  God  can  do.  Men  can  teach;  they 
can  do  wonders;  but  as  the  Pharisees  themselves 
said:  "  Only  God  can  forgive  sin." 

It  is  what  every  member  of  the  race  must  have 


WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTEN     12& 

done  for  him  if  he  is  not  to  go  lame  and  despairing 
out  into  the  great  beyond ;  for  we  "  all  have  sinned 
and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God/'  We  may 
make  light  of  sin.  We  may  hypnotize  ourselves 
into  the  belief  that  our  sins  are  merely  indiscretions, 
and  that  we  are  not  so  much  sinners  as  the  victims 
of  circumstance;  but  soon  or  late  that  stern  hour 
will  come  forcing  us  to  our  knees  and  sending  to 
our  lips  the  old  prayer:  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within 
me!" 

Suppose  there  were  none  to  answer  that  cry,  and 
no  hope  for  the  sin-sick  soul,  and  no  cure  for  the 
open  sore  of  the  world.  Suppose  there  were  no 
gospel  for  a  life  in  trouble,  for  a  character  in  de- 
cay, for  a  will  in  chains,  for  an  unshriven  soul  on 
the  brink  of  dissolution,  nothing  for  such  desperate 
need  but  mere  maxims  and  mottoes  and  pratings 
about  justice  and  a  square  deal !  The  future  would 
be  a  horror  of  despair,  and  there  would  be  no  an- 
swer to  the  supreme  cry  of  the  soul  but  for  Christ. 
He  IS  the  only  Saviour.  The  world's  everlasting 
necessity  is  a  remedy  for  sin.  We  can  do  without 
bread,  air,  sunshine,  far  better  than  without  salva- 
tion. 

Christ  alone  can  cure  sin.  He  can  cure  it, — ^not 
discuss  It,  not  describe  it,  not  reveal  it,  not  rebuke 
and  condemn  and  threaten  It,  but  Christ  can  cure 
sin !  This  Is  why  He  is  not  forgotten,  and  why, 
as  long  as  the  heart  can  remember,  Jesus  will  be 


126     WHY  CHEIST  IS  NOT  FOEGOTTEN 

loved.  The  Son  of  Man  has  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins.  Christianity  is  the  only  religion  with 
a  gospel,  the  only  religion  that  can  cleanse  the 
guilty  stains  from  the  soul.  "  Though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though 
they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool." 
Hallelujah!     "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me.'* 

"  When  to  the  cross  I  turn  mine  eyes, 
And  rest  on  Calvary, 
Oh,  Lamb  of  God,  my  sacrifice, 
I  must  remember  Thee." 


XVII 
JESUS  ONLY 

"  They  saw  no  man  any  more,  save  Jesus  only  with  them- 
selves."— Mark  9 : 8. 

"  r  ■  ^  HEY  saw  no  man  any  more  save  Jesus 
I  only  with  themselves."  It  sounds  like  a 
-*-  note  of  disappointment.  The  disciples 
seem  dejected.  They  have  had  a  rapturous  expe- 
rience, but  it  has  ended  tamely.  After  standing 
on  the  mountain  top  of  privilege  and  gazing  into  the 
glory  of  the  open  heaven  and  listening  to  celestial 
voices,  they  must  go  down  and  back  to  the  world 
as  poor  as  they  came. 

The  Transfiguration 
The  transfiguration  has  just  taken  place.  Peter 
and  James  and  John  have  been  carried  by  Christ 
to  the  top  of  a  high  mountain.  There  before  their 
eyes  He  was  transfigured.  His  raiment  shone 
with  an  unearthly  lustre.  Moses  and  Elias  ap- 
peared and  talked  with  Jesus.  The  disciples  were 
thrilled.  They  were  in  an  ecstasy.  Peter  said: 
"  Let  us  build  and  stay."  A  voice  out  of  the 
clouds  said:  "This  is  my  beloved  Son.  Hear 
him." 

127 


128  JESUS  ONLY 

And  now  it  has  all  gone.  The  glory  has  passed 
away.  There  is  no  more  any  light.  Moses  and 
Elias  have  vanished.  The  voice  has  died  down 
into  dumb  silence.  The  heavens  look  like  any 
common  day.  They  rub  their  eyes  and  look  around 
and  see  no  man  any  more  save  Jesus  only  with 
themselves.  The  glory  of  the  great  occasion  is 
dead.  It  is  useless  to  linger  longer  on  that  barren 
peak.  There  is  nothing  now  to  make  Peter  say: 
"  Let  us  build."  Divinity  has  perished  from  the 
landscape.     They  may  as  well  descend. 

No,  divinity  has  not  perished.  Jesus  is  there. 
True,  His  garments  have  no  supernatural  lustre 
now.  It  is  the  dull  cloak  with  which  they  are  so 
familiar.  There  is  no  vision  from  the  spirit  world. 
It  is  Jesus  only.  Yet  the  disciples  take  down  all 
the  glory  seen  on  the  summit,  for  Jesus  had  created 
it.  He  had  released  His  power.  He  had  lifted 
the  curtain  and  let  them  see.  He  had  given  them 
one  seraphic  glimpse  into  the  glory.  But  Jesus 
was  always  in  possession  of  the  beauty  and  power 
there  revealed.  The  inhabitants  of  the  celestial 
world  were  always  that  close  to  Him.  The  trans- 
figuration was  potential  within  Him. 

There  is  no  reason  for  dejection.  Jesus  only 
was  all  they  had  seen,  and  vastly  more,  and  they 
have  Him.  They  have  Jesus  only  with  them- 
selves. He  will  not  leave  them.  The  picture 
passes,  but  the  substance  tarries.  Christ  is  theirs 
forever.     He  will  never  leave  them.     With  Him 


JESUS  ONLY  129 

they  can  afford  to  go  back  to  duty,  to  work,  to  trial, 
back  to  the  sick,  weary  world,  to  suffering,  to  per- 
secution and  martyrdom.  They  saw  no  man  any 
more,  save  Jesus  only  with  themselves.  But  they 
can  do  all  things  through  Him.  All  life  is  trans- 
figured. 

Our  Transfigured  Moments 

Ever  and  again  it  is  given  to  His  followers  to 
look  upon  some  transfiguration  of  the  Christ,  to 
come  to  some  hour  that  exalts  Him,  to  behold  some 
display  that  glorifies  Him,  to  share  in  some  experi- 
ence out  of  which  flashes  the  splendour  of  His  di- 
vinity. It  may  be  some  precious  personal  experi- 
ence, some  wonderful  conversion,  some  wide 
sweeping  revival,  some  outward  display  of  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom,  some  spectacular  revela- 
tion of  the  glory  of  the  Church,  some  demonstra- 
tion of  the  power  of  Christian  civilization,  some 
prophetic  foretoken  of  the  new  age. 

As  we  look  and  listen,  we  glorify  the  hour  and 
exalt  the  scene.  We  say:  "  It  is  good  to  be  here.*' 
We  recite  the  splendours  of  the  Church,  the  power 
of  its  message,  the  sweep  of  its  influence,  the  wis- 
dom of  Its  creeds.  We  proclaim  the  kingdom. 
We  talk  about  a  new  age  of  fratemalism.  We 
discuss  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  sing  of  an  era 
of  peace,  and  say:  "  It  is  great,  it  is  good,  it  is 
glorious  to  be  alive.     Let  us  build/' 

Amid  it  all,  we  sometimes  forget  that  quiet  fig- 


130  JESUS  ONLY 

ure  on  the  far  horizon,  the  One  Who  came  lonely 
and  portionless  to  His  own,  and  His  own  received 
Him  not,  the  Son  of  Man  Who  had  not  where  to 
lay  His  head.  He  hung  on  the  cross  and  was 
wounded  for  our  transgression.  Amid  all  the  splen- 
dours and  triumphs  of  the  day,  amid  the  power 
and  wealth,  the  pomp  and  progress  of  the  Church, 
we  sometimes  forget  Jesus.  We  are  so  fascinated 
by  the  frame  we  fail  to  see  the  picture.  We  are 
so  absorbed  with  His  garments  that  we  fail  to  look 
into  His  face.  We  are  so  fascinated  by  the  light 
that  we  forget  the  sun  and  imagine  that  the  glory 
of  the  Gospel  is  in  its  manifestation,  its  displays 
and  achievements. 

But  back  of  all  is  Jesus  only.  He  has  brought 
it  to  pass.  It  is  but  a  glimpse  of  what  is  potential 
in  the  lowly,  suffering  Saviour.  Take  all  away 
and  leave  us  Jesus  and  nothing  is  lost.  Tear  down 
the  Church,  wipe  out  civilization,  reverse  every 
step  of  progress  for  the  last  nineteen  hundred 
years,  but  leave  Christ,  and  the  world  will  begin 
afresh  its  climb  out  of  sin.  All  will  be  restored, 
for  there  was  a  time  when  Christ  was  all.  There 
were  no  mighty  denominations,  no  widespread 
evangelizing  forces,  no  Christian  schools  and  print- 
ing presses  and  hospitals,  no  Christian  nations  con- 
quering in  the  sign  of  the  cross,  no  treasures  of  art 
and  literature  stamped  with  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  just  the  lowly,  lonely  Christ  hanging 
ther;e  on  the  cross,  thorn-crowned,  spear-torn,  nail- 


JESUS  ONLY  131 

driven,  between  two  thieves,  while  the  world  went 
by  wagging  its  head  and  saying:  "He  saved  others; 
himself  he  cannot  save."  There  was  just  Jesus 
only.  But  He  is  the  divinity  at  the  heart  of  it  all. 
He  produced  it.  It  was  potential  within  Him.  He 
was  the  one  man  in  human  history  who  was  His 
message. 

Let  us  not  forget  Jesus  in  our  admiration  of 
what  His  teachings  and  influence  have  done  in  the 
world.  Let  us  not  lose  His  faith  in  our  wonder  of 
His  work.  Let  us  not  think  more  of  the  transfigu- 
ration than  we  do  of  Christ  Himself.  We  must 
not  count  His  robe  dearer  than  His  Person,  nor 
value  relics  higher  than  His  Presence,  nor  exalt 
systems  and  sects  and  creeds  and  rituals  or  even 
the  Church  itself,  above  the  living  Christ. 

Christ  is  Christianity.  Take  Him  away,  and 
there  is  nothing  left.  The  Church  collapses.  The 
cult  dies,  and  civilization  withers.  We  succeed 
only  as  our  work  reveals,  honours,  exalts  and  glori- 
fies Him.  The  great  thing  about  a  sermon  is  the 
revelation  of  Christ  it  may  contain.  It  may  be 
eloquent  or  plain,  but  if  Christ  is  there,  it  will  cast 
a  spell.  It  is  not  the  place,  but  the  Christ  in  the 
place,  that  makes  it  holy.  It  may  be  a  stately  tem- 
ple or  a  plain  chapel  or  a  spot  in  the  open  by  the 
riverside,  but  if  Christ  is  there,  heaven  brushes 
earth.  Christ  Is  Christianity.  "And  I,  If  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto 
me."  No  wonder  the  sole  memorial  of  our  faith 
is  the  remembrance  of  Jesus. 


132  JESUS  ONLY 

The  Vision  of  the  Sacrament 

The  vision  of  the  sacrament  is  Jesus  only.  That 
night  long  ago  as  He  gathered  around  the  table 
with  His  disciples,  He  instituted  the  simple  feast 
and  said:  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me."  He 
seemed  to  say:  "  Whenever  you  keep  the  supper,  I 
want  you  to  think  of  me.  I  want  your  devotion  to 
be  not  the  Church,  not  the  system,  not  the  ritual 
nor  the  cause,  not  the  progress  and  triumph  of  the 
faith.  As  you  gather  in  the  holy  hush  of  the 
communion  hour,  my  prayer  is  that  you  may  see 
no  man  save  Jesus  only  with  yourselves."  This 
is  what  these  symbols  are  saying.  It  is  a  plain 
feast,  just  a  table  and  some  plates  and  cups,  some 
pieces  of  bread  and  a  chalice  of  wine.  The  ap- 
pointments are  bare.  They  are  not  impressive,  for 
they  must  not  attract  attention  to  themselves.  We 
must  see  no  man  save  Jesus  only.  We  must  go 
back  to  that  figure  on  the  cross.  We  must  think 
of  His  love  and  feel  His  holy  presence,,  then 
heaven  is  here. 

"  Jesus  only  with  themselves.'*  With  you,  with 
me!  Surely  there  can  never  be  a  dull  day  if  that 
be  our  lot.  Jesus  is  enough.  He  saves,  inspires, 
directs,  sustains,  enriches,  shares,  and  when  work 
is  over.  He  rew^ards.  After  toil  is  finished  it  is 
enough  if  at  the  end  of  the  journey  in  the  haze  of 
the  twilight  we  shall  see  Jesus  only,  and  hear  Him 
say:  "  Well  done,  welcome  home !  " 


JESUS  OKLY  133 

As  we  gather  around  the  table,  may  this  come  to 
pass.  May  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  reHgion 
retire  into  the  shadows,  and  may  the  face  and  form 
of  the  sinners'  Friend  discover  themselves  to  our 
faith.  May  we  see  no  man  save  Jesus  only  with 
ourselves ! 


XVIII 
"OF  ME" 

"  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me." — I^uke  22 :  19. 

WHY  did  Christ  add  the  last  two  words — 
"  of  me  "  ?  Why  not  say :  "  This  do  in 
remembrance,"  and  let  it  stand  at  that? 
It  would  have  been  a  sweet  and  privileged  medi- 
tation just  to  remember,  just  to  sit  and  muse  while 
memory  brought  the  old  days  back,  just  to  think  of 
the  times  that  were  gone,  of  the  days  when  they 
were  fishermen,  of  that  hour  when  He  called  them 
and  they  left  all  and  followed  Him,  of  those  three 
wonderful  years  of  fellowship,  of  their  first  mis- 
sionary journey  and  of  the  way  they  came  back  to 
Him  flushed  with  success  and  radiant  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  new  power  that  had  come.  Did 
ever  men  have  such  eventful  years?  It  would  have 
been  great  just  to  remember. 

This  is  what  some  of  us  do  at  communion.  We 
remember.  We  recall  the  days  that  are  gone.  We 
think  of  the  old  associations  in  the  church  we  love. 
We  seem  to  see  about  us  the  people  who  used  to  sit 
in  the  pews  and  the  minister  who  once  stood  in  the 
pulpit.     We   remember   ourselves,   our   falls,   our 

134 


*^OFME'>  135 

struggles,  our  blunders.  We  recall  the  periods  of 
great  spiritual  awakening  which  star  the  path.  It 
is  heavenly  thus  to  sit  under  the  spell  of  sacred 
memory. 

But  this  is  not  what  Christ  says.  He  says: 
"  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me.'*  He  claims  our 
attention.  He  seems  to  say:  "  I  want  you  to  be 
absorbed  with  me,  not  with  thoughts  of  yourselves, 
of  your  church,  of  your  preacher  and  his  sermon, 
but  of  me."  He  does  not  say  that  He  wants  us 
to  remember  something  about  Him,  to  recall  His 
words.  His  work,  His  sufferings.  Of  course  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  all  these  crowd  in  as  we  think 
of  Him.  But  He  is  more  than  any  sermon  He 
ever  preached  or  any  miracle  He  ever  wrought,  and 
He  says:  "Remember  me."  The  personaHty  of 
Christ  is  the  picture  on  which  faith  is  to  dwell  in 
the  sacrament.  AA-.v-t-^.  r/ 

The  Egotism  of  Jesus 

Jesus  was  the  greatest  egotist  the  world  has  ever 
known.  One  needs  but  to  recall  some  of  His 
teachings  to  be  convinced  of  this.  He  said: 
'*  Whosoever  belleveth  in  me  shall  be  saved."  He 
brushes  aside  all  others  as  pretenders,  and  claims 
that  He,  and  He  alone,  is  Saviour. 

He  says:  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life. 
No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  He 
sends  all  systems  and  creeds  and  organizations  and 
cults  to  the  rear,  and  fills  their  places  with  Him- 


136  *'OFME^^ 

self.  He  claims  that  He,  and  He  alone,  has  the 
power  to  introduce  men  to  God.  He  is  the  only 
way,  and  he  that  climbeth  up  some  other  way  is  a 
thief  and  a  robber. 

Hear  Him  as  He  takes  the  world  into  His  heart, 
and  says:  **  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  wdll  give  you  rest."  Recite  the 
travail  of  the  world.  Think  of  its  pain  and  agony, 
of  its  remorse  and  bitter  disappointment,  of  all  its 
sorrow  and  tears.  How  can  such  sickness  ever  be 
healed?  For  Christ  it  is  easy.  He  says:  "Just 
come  to  me,  and  your  tired  hearts  will  be  cured." 

He  assumes  the  power  to  forgive  sin.  He  says : 
"  The  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive 
sin."  He  is  claiming  sinless  perfection,  for  if  He 
forgives  sin.  He  does  not  commit  it.  He  asks: 
"  Lovest  thou  me?  "  and  makes  devotion  to  Him- 
self the  supreme  motive  in  Christian  service. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  a  Person, — not  of 
a  ritual  or  a  cult  or  a  system,  but  of  a  Person. 
People  are  religious  not  as  they  are  orthodox,  not 
as  they  recite  a  liturgy,  not  as  they  discharge  cer- 
tain duties  and  subscribe  to  certain  views,  but  as 
they  are  related  to  Jesus. 

Then  Christ  is  more  than  a  mere  man.  It  would 
be  blasphemy  for  a  mere  man  to  say  what  Christ 
says.  It  would  be  worse  than  a  farce  for  the  best 
of  men  to  claim  what  Christ  claims.  It  would  be 
more  than  ridiculous  for  them  to  profess  to  do 
what  Christ  does.     But  He  performs  what  He 


"OFME^»  137 

proposes.    His  promises  are  worth  their  face  value. 
Christ  makes  good. 

His  is  the  egotism  of  a  God.  It  does  not  offend 
us.  It  would  be  strange  if,  being  what  He  is,  He 
should  say  less.  Jesus  assumed  His  godhood. 
He  did  not  claim  it,  because  such  claim  was  unnec- 
essary. In  so  far  as  saving  Himself  went,  He  emp- 
tied Himself  of  His  godhood,  because  He  came  to 
live  a  real  human  life,  to  meet  trial  as  we  must 
meet  it,  and  to  be  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we 
are.  But  let  us  not  misunderstand  Him.  This 
does  not  mean  that  Christ  takes  a  second  place. 

The  Goal  of  Religion 

Jesus  is  the  goal  of  religion.  He  comes  first. 
He  is  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand  and  the  one 
altogether  lovely.  Perhaps  you  are  trying  to  be 
religious.  What  do  you  mean  by  it?  What 
thought  is  in  your  mind  and  what  plan  are  you 
following  to  accomplish  your  desire  ?  You  attend 
church,  but  why?  You  contribute  your  money  to 
good  causes,  but  why?  To  whom  are  you  making 
your  gifts?  To  the  church?  To  humanity?  Per- 
haps you  teach  a  class  in  the  Sunday-school,  or 
help  at  the  mission,  or  are  a  worker  at  the  settle- 
ment. For  whom  are  you  doing  all  this?  Ana- 
lyze your  religion.  Perhaps  much  of  it  never  gets 
to  Christ  at  all. 

Many  of  the  things  we  do  we  do  simply  because 
we  like  to  do  them.     The  service  is  congenial. 


138  ^'OFME'' 

Perhaps  it  makes  us  feel  important.  It  classifies 
us  with  people  who  are  decent  and  generous  and 
respectable.  We  are  fond  of  the  church.  We 
want  it  to  make  a  good  record.  We  would  like  to 
meet  the  expectations  which  the  world  has  of  us. 
Society  might  call  us  mean  were  we  to  decline. 
And  all  of  this  is  very  nice,  in  a  way,  but  it 
is  not  being  a  Christian.  A  pagan  can  go  this 
far. 

Christ  says:  "I  want  you  to  do  it  for  me. 
When  you  help  a  lame  man,  I  want  you  to  be  think- 
ing not  so  much  of  him,  but  of  me.  When  you  are 
engaged  in  Christian  service,  I  would  have  your 
mind  filled  with  thoughts  not  so  much  of  the  church 
or  of  the  class  as  of  me.  When  you  give  your 
money,  back  of  the  gift  I  would  have  you  remem- 
ber not  merely  the  community  or  the  heathen,  or 
even  my  servant  the  missionary,  but  I  want  you  to 
remember  me,  your  Saviour." 

Does  Christ  stand  out  before  us?  Is  He  su- 
preme? Have  we  thought  that  what  we  were  do- 
ing, we  were  doing  for  Him,  and  that  when  we 
failed  to  do,  it  was  not  the  people  we  hurt,  nor 
the  church,  but  were  driving  the  nails  into  the 
hands  of  Christ?  Have  you  ever  heard  Him  cry 
out  as  you  pressed  down  the  thorns?  No.  His 
pale  lips  speak  no  word.  But  if  we  could  see  the 
unseen,  we  might  see  what  Peter  saw  that  night  at 
the  trial  when,  as  he  denied  Him,  he  turned  and 
saw  Jesus.     We  might  hear  what  John  heard  as 


*'OFME"  139 

He  listened  to  his  Master  that  awful  night  before 
Pilate. 

Let  us  readjust  our  motives  here  at  the  com- 
munion table.  What  is  the  place  we  give  Christ? 
In  our  great  campaigns  for  the  kingdom,  what 
motive  drives  us  on?  Is  it  church  pride,  or  de- 
nominational loyalty,  or  the  honour  that  attaches 
to  success,  or  is  it  all  for  Him? 

"  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  That  will 
sustain  us.  It  will  make  the  difficult  easy.  It  will 
keep  us  sweet  when  we  are  tempted  to  be  bitter. 
It  will  enable  us  to  see  the  best  in  others,  and  it  will 
enable  us  to  rejoice  in  suffering.  I  have  heard  of 
a  young  man  who  came  to  America  from  a  nation 
to  whom  we  send  the  missionaries.  He  had  heard 
of  Jesus,  and  had  learned  to  love  Him.  He  wanted 
to  fit  himself  for  Christian  service  to  his  own  na- 
tion. Without  means,  he  was  working  his  passage 
in  the  stifling  hold  of  the  ship  as  a  stoker,  but  he 
said  the  thing  that  sustained  him  was,  in  the  midst 
of  the  awful  heat  and  dirt  of  that  long  passage, 
that  it  was  for  Christ. 

It  is  our  devotion  to  Jesus  that  will  shape  the 
verdict  at  last.  **  I  was  in  prison  and  ye  came  unto 
me.'*  Maybe  we  were  not  always  conscious  that 
He  was  there,  but  it  was  not  for  the  prisoner,  it 
was  for  the  Christ  that  we  went.  It  was  in  His 
name  that  we  gave  a  cup  of  water  to  a  thirsty  dis- 
ciple. It  was  because  we  knew  and  loved  Jesus 
that  we  gave  a  lift  to  the  hurt  man  on  the  highway. 


140  *<0F  ME^' 

and  the  Judge  is  saying:  **  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  did 
it  unto  me." 

"  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  May  we  see 
Him  as  we  gather  around  the  table.  In  the  holy 
hush  of  communion,  for  us  may  it  be  Jesus,  only 
Jesus.     Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly! 


XIX 
THE  PROGRAM   OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM 

"  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things." — Luke  24 :  48. 

THE  place  was  the  upper  chamber  at  Jeru- 
salem. It  was  the  first  cathedral  of  the 
Christian  Church.  There  was  no  altar, 
no  choir,  no  nave,  no  crucifix.  It  was  without 
Gothic  arches  and  steepled  splendour.  There  were 
just  the  four  bare  walls  of  a  common  room,  but 
there  never  was  built  a  house  that  held  more  of 
God  than  that  plain  room.  It  was  the  room  where 
the  Holy  Supper  was  instituted,  where  Christ's  dis- 
ciples made  their  home  after  they  had  lost  their 
Master.  It  was  the  room  in  which  the  prayer- 
meeting  was  held  which  preceded  Pentecost,  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  descended  in  power  and  the  gift  of 
tongues  was  bestowed.  There  more  than  once  the 
risen  Christ  showed  Himself  to  His  friends.  Such 
is  the  place. 

The  f>eopIe  in  this  room  consist  of  Jesus  and  ten 
men,  Thomas  the  doubter  being  absent.  They  are 
the  friends  who  had  followed  Christ  through  the 
three  strange  and  eventful  years  of  His  earthly 
ministry,  but  times  have  changed.     They  have  seen 

141 


142    THE  PEOGEAM  OF  THE  IFPPEE  BOOM 

Him  arrested  and  crucified.  They  have  watched 
Him  stagger  down  the  road  under  the  load  of  a 
cross.  They  have  seen  the  soldiers  nail  Him  to  the 
tree,  and  have  heard  His  cries  from  the  cross. 
They  have  watched  Him  die,  and  they  have  laid 
His  body  in  the  tomb.  Yet  here  He  is  with  them 
again.  He  is  risen.  They  cannot  doubt  it.  He 
show^s  them  the  print  of  the  nails.  He  eats  with 
them.  Their  Master  has  come  back.  And  those 
men  are  all  a-tremble  with  the  ecstasy  of  the  hour. 

The  two  disciples  who  saw  Him  in  the  breaking 
of  the  bread  at  Emmaus  have  told  their  strange 
story,  and  even  while  they  tell  it,  Jesus  is  there  in 
the  room  with  them  again,  with  the  old  look  in  His 
face,  and  the  voice  they  love  so  well  has  once  more 
spoken  peace.  That  has  thrilled  them.  What 
care  they  now  for  the  great  hostile  world  whose 
tides  of  unbelief  and  persecution  break  and  beat 
outside?  The  door  is  shut,  and  within  is  Christ. 
What  care  they  for  the  soldiers  and  the  priests  and 
the  excited  mob?  The  world  may  cry:  ''  Crucify 
him !  "  They  may  nail  Him  to  the  cross  and  seal 
His  sepulchre  and  station  a  guard,  but  they  cannot 
keep  Christ  In  the  tomb.  What  do  these  friends 
of  Christ  care  now  for  the  world? 

Ah,  but  they  must  care.  This  is  their  mission. 
They  must  care  for  the  cold,  hostile,  persecuting 
world.  Next  to  their  Lord,  there  is  nothing  they 
must  care  for  quite  so  much.  They  must  not  care 
for  themselves.     They  must  not  care  for  ease  or 


THE  PKOGEAM  OF  THE  UPPER  EOOM  143 

peace  or  joy,  nor  count  life  dear.  They  must  hold 
all  cheap,  that  they  may  bless  the  world  God  loved 
and  Christ  came  to  save. 

And  so  the  mystical  must  become  practical.  The 
ecstasy  must  translate  itself  into  service.  Privi- 
lege must  pack  itself  into  power.  This  is  the  law 
of  the  kingdom.  It  was  so  with  the  demoniac  res- 
cued from  the  tomb.  It  was  the  purpose  of  that 
wonderful  experience  on  the  Mount  of  Transfigu- 
ration. It  was  the  message  to  Mary  in  the  garden 
that  Easter  morn.  And  it  is  the  message  here  in 
the  upper  room.  The  needy  world  waits  outside 
the  door  and  they  must  plan  to  save  the  lost. 
There  are  rooms  in  which  the  destiny  of  nations  is 
decided,  and  the  map  of  earth  changed.  There  in 
the  upper  room  it  was  the  destiny  of  a  race  that 
was  involved. 

How  is  the  world  to  be  saved?  What  shall  be 
the  program  ?  How  shall  the  campaign  be  planned  ? 
Christ  is  going  away,  but  His  work  must  go  on. 
There  in  that  room  is  to  be  formulated  the  scheme 
which  is  to  issue  in  world  redemption.  From  the 
upper  room  is  to  go  forth  the  power  which  is  to 
change  the  world.  Through  that  door  directly 
will  pass  a  force  incarnated  in  the  personalities  of 
eleven  men  that  will  shake  down  every  despotism, 
terminate  every  tyranny,  overthrow  the  barriers  of 
hate,  wipe  out  every  line  of  caste,  cure  every 
wound,  comfort  every  sorrow,  and  atone  for  every 
sin. 


144  THE  PEOGEAM  OF  THE  UPPEE  EOOM 

It  is  a  stupendous  undertaking.  The  world  is 
to  crown  Christ  King.  The  cross  must  triumph. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  must  be  translated  into 
practice.  It  means  the  mightiest  upheaval  in  hu- 
man history.  The  forces  of  evil  are  to  be  routed, 
and  civilization  is  to  be  built  on  the  Golden  Rule. 
This  is  the  task.  Already  it  has  partially  been  ac- 
complished. All  the  program  of  world  evangeli- 
zation is  potential  in  that  upper  room  where  ten 
men  tarry  under  the  spell  of  a  resurrected  Christ. 

Christ  announced  the  program.  He  sums  it  up 
in  a  single  line.  **  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these 
things."  That  was  all.  They  were  to  file  out  of 
that  room  into  the  world  and  become  witnesses. 
Nothing  could  be  more  practical.  They  were  to 
translate  the  mystical.  They  were  to  harness  the 
ecstasy.  They  were  to  live  out  the  peace.  And 
they  did.  In  the  gray  dawn  of  the  day  of  service 
they  opened  the  door  of  the  upper  room  and  al- 
lowed the  tides  of  the  hostile  world  to  break  over 
them.  They  faced  the  battle  line  and  gave  their 
testimony.  They  laid  down  their  lives.  But  it  was 
victory. 

Witnesses 
The  program  of  the  upper  room  is  for  Christ's 
disciples  to  be  witnesses.  It  is  for  those  who  have 
sat  at  Jesus'  feet  and  have  learned  of  Him  to  tell 
what  they  have  learned.  It  is  for  those  who  have 
heard  it  to  publish  the  good  news.     It  is  for  those 


THE  PROGEAM  OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM  145 

who  have  become  partakers  of  the  Gospel  to  pro- 
claim the  message.  That  is  all.  Could  anything 
be  simpler?  Men  were  to  be  saved  by  believing. 
But  how  can  they  believe  on  Him  of  Whom  they 
have  not  heard  ? 

The  program  of  the  upper  room  was  not  for  the 
disciples  to  raise  an  army  and  unsheath  the  sword 
and  appeal  to  force.  No  world  power  is  men- 
tioned. There  is  not  a  word  about  money  or  schol- 
arship or  influence  or  place.  They  had  none  of 
this.     They  were  just  to  be  witnesses. 

The  program  was  not  that  they  should  go  forth 
to  answer  the  arguments  of  their  foes  or  to  reply  to 
the  criticism  of  those  who  doubted  or  despised 
their  call.  They  were  not  asked  to  explain  away 
the  difficulties  nor  to  soften  the  hardships  involved 
in  discipleship.  They  were  to  be  neither  judge  nor 
jury  nor  advocate,  but  just  witnesses. 

They  were  not  asked  to  organize  themselves  into 
an  institution  in  order  to  do  the  work.  They  were 
not  even  told  to  found  a  church.  Of  course,  the 
church  would  come.  But  it  would  come  as  a  by- 
product of  witnessing.  Nothing  is  said  about  a 
hierarchy  or  a  priesthood.  Many  things  have  been 
added  to  the  program  since  that  hour  in  the  upper 
room,  some  of  which  are  useful,  but  in  the  original 
there  was  nothing  but  witnessing. 

It  seemed  too  simple.  It  sounded  inadequate. 
It  looked  as  though  the  plan  were  doomed  to  fail- 
ure.   What  did  the  world  care  for  witnesses?    It 


146  THE  PROGRAM  OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM 

would  despise  them  and  impeach  them  and  silence 
them.  It  would  trample  on  their  testimony.  It 
would  heap  ridicule  on  their  efforts.  The  world 
would  not  listen.  But  Christ  does  not  revise.  He 
says:  **  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things."  And 
He  lets  it  stand  at  that.  ^  On  this  He  stakes  His 
cause.  He  went  into  battle  with  neither  army  nor 
ammunition  nor  equipment,  with  eleven  men  for 
His  followers,  who  had  nothing  in  the  world  but 
the  story  of  their  faith  in  their  Leader. 

This  is  still  the  program.  Since  that  night 
long  ago  in  the  upper  room,  we  have  gotten  much 
together.  Earth  is  filled  with  great  churches.  The 
Church  is  rich  and  learned  and  influential.  The 
foremost  nations  of  the  world  call  themselves 
Christian.  Yet  these  are  not  the  things  that  win. 
The  program  of  victory  is  still  the  program  of  the 
upper  room.  The  world  is  saved  only  as  Christ's 
disciples  become  His  witnesses.  It  is  here  the  tide 
turns.  This  is  all  Christ  asks  of  us,  and  nothing 
can  take  its  place.  "  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these 
things." 

The  important  thing  is  to  be  a  witness.  I  may 
be  a  church  member,  but  if  I  am  not  a  witness,  I 
am  a  failure.  The  big  thing  is  not  my  denomina- 
tion, my  contribution,  my  activities,  my  knowledge 
of  theology,  my  position  in  the  church  or  in  the 
world,  but  my  testimony.  Has  the  world  ever 
thought  enough  of  my  religious  life  to  call  me  to 
the  witness  stand  ? 


THE  PROGEAM  OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM  147 

The  Assets  of  a  Witness 
To  be  a  witness  one  must  have  an  experience. 
He  must  know  what  he  knows.  It  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  know  what  some  one  else  knows.  It 
will  not  answer  for  him  to  report  what  others  say 
they  have  heard  or  seen  or  felt.  He  must  himself 
have  seen  and  heard  and  felt.  He  must  know 
Jesus  in  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  An  uncon- 
verted man  may  hold  office  in  the  church.  He 
may  be  a  generous  contributor  of  his  means.  He 
may  found  charities  and  philanthropies  and  sup- 
port a  missionary.  He  may  teach  in  the  Sunday- 
school.  He  may  even  be  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel. 
He  may  do  any  number  of  good  things.  But  he 
cannot  get  into  the  program  of  the  upper  room. 
To  do  that,  he  must  have  an  experience.  He  must 
be  converted  himself  and  be  able  to  say:  '*  I 
know!" 

His  testimony  must  be  specific.  It  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  tell  where  he  lives,  to  announce  his  na- 
tionality, his  colour,  his  condition.  It  will  not  suf- 
fice for  him  to  tell  what  he  knows  about  agricul- 
ture or  science  or  lawmaking.  The  mission  of  the 
Church  is  definite.  The  kingdom  is  not  meat  and 
drink.  It  is  not  an  economic  paradise  that  Jesus 
came  to  establish.  The  Church  is  not  asked  to 
give  its  testimony  on  every  new  ripple  that  shows 
on  the  sea  of  human  life.  It  is  to  tell  what  it 
knows  about  Christ,  of  His  saving  power,  of  His 
ability  to  cure  sin. 


148  THE  PEOGBAM  OF  THE  UPPER  EOOM 

If  our  testimony  is  to  be  credible,  our  character 
must  be  in  harmony  with  the  truth  we  preach.  It 
must  certify  that  we  are  trustworthy.  A  witness 
must  be  faithful.  This  is  preeminently  true  when 
it  comes  to  religion.  We  must  be  what  we  pro- 
claim. We  must  possess,  and  not  merely  profess. 
Christ's  stamp  must  be  on  us.  The  world  will  not 
listen  to  a  hypocrite  or  a  pretender. 

Evidence 

We  are  witnesses  of  ''  these  things."  What 
things?  They  are  the  things  mentioned  in  the 
forty-sixth  and  forty-seventh  verses  of  the  chap- 
ter.    They  are  three  in  number. 

We  are  to  testify  to  the  sufferings  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  first  thing  the  world  needs  to  know. 
It  must  learn  that  He  suffered.  It  must  stop  at 
the  cross.  It  must  discover  that  He  laid  down  His 
life  for  sinners.  We  are  to  go  on  the  witness 
stand  to  prove  that  Calvary  is  a  reality.  How? 
Not  by  saying,  but  by  being.  We  must  live  the 
cross.  Paul  declared  that  he  filled  up  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ,  and  that  he  bore  in  his  body  the 
marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Whatever  happened  to 
Christ  must  happen  to  His  followers.  We  must 
take  up  our  cross  and  follow  Him.  We  must  be 
crucified  with  Him.  Talk  is  cheap.  It  convinces 
no  one.  But  to  live  the  cross, — that  is  unanswer- 
able. 

We  must  testify  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 


THE  PEOGEAM  OF  THE  UPPEE  EOOM  149 

The  world  also  needs  to  know  that  Christ  rose 
from  the  dead.  This  is  the  seal  and  proof  of  all 
He  taught.  It  was  the  great  event.  How  are  we 
to  testify  to  the  resurrection?  We  must  do  more 
than  say  that  He  rose.  It  is  not  enough  to  sing  an 
Easter  song  or  hold  an  Easter  service.  Christ 
must  be  risen  in  us.  The  soul  must  emerge  from 
the  tomb  of  sin  and  selfishness.  We  must  experi- 
ence the  resurrection.  That  was  the  glorious  thing 
about  the  woman  who  broke  her  alabaster  box  on 
Christ.  She  was  risen.  The  world  listens  not  so 
much  to  our  song  as  to  us.  If  Christ  is  risen  in 
me  the  hope  of  glory,  that  is  evidence. 

We  must  testify  to  repentance  and  remission  of 
sins  in  His  name.  This  is  the  good  news  the 
world  is  waiting  to  hear  from  those  men  who  are 
issuing  from  the  upper  room.  They  were  not 
waiting  to  learn  some  new  theory  of  science  or  the 
latest  market  quotations  or  the  best  method  of 
handling  the  social  evil,  but  how  sin  could  be  cured 
and  an  entrance  made  into  the  kingdom  of  right- 
eousness and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
How  were  they  to  furnish  such  testimony?  It 
was  not  enough  to  believe  it  for  themselves.  They 
must  believe  it  and  experience  it,  but  they  must  also 
proclaim  it.  They  must  see  that  everybody  hears 
it.  They  must  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature.  They  must  become  her- 
alds, ambassadors,  living  incarnations  of  the  holy 
evangel. 


150    THE  PROGEAM  OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM 

The  Campaign 

Such  was  the  program  of  the  upper  room.  As 
that  Httle  apostoHc  group  passed  out,  this  is  what 
they  went  to  do.  After  Pentecost,  they  began  to 
preach, — not  a  system,  not  a  dogma,  but  evidence. 
They  testified  to  the  thing  they  knew.  As  they 
did  so,  the  barriers  fell  away  and  the  cross  was  tri- 
umphant. 

This  is  our  business  as  Christians.  The  com- 
munion will  remind  us  of  this.  In  our  imagina- 
tion we  return  to  the  upper  room,  and  there  the  old 
program  greets  us.  We  are  witnesses  of  these 
things,  in  our  own  town,  in  our  own  home.  In 
the  office,  the  factory,  on  the  street,  on  the  golf 
links,  in  our  social  recreations,  in  our  business  re- 
lations, wherever  we  are,  we  are  to  be  witnesses. 

Christ  has  left  His  work  with  us.  His  cause 
stands  or  falls,  wins  or  fails,  with  our  testimony. 
The  world  judges  the  Saviour  by  us.  It  is  not  a 
case  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  or  of  the  mir- 
acles, or  of  the  Church.  It  is  a  case  of  the  Chris- 
tian, of  whether  he  is  a  good  or  bad  witness. 

It  is  great  to  be  faithful.  Now  we  are  in  the 
upper  room.  To-morrow  we  shall  be  In  the  world, 
and  the  salvation  of  the  world  will  depend  on  us. 
It  is  a  tremendous  responsibility.  It  is  an  impos- 
sible task  that  is  assigned  us.  It  throws  us  back 
on  God.  With  Him  the  Impossible  becomes  pos- 
sible. Oh,  to  catch  the  spirit  of  those  men  In  the 
upper  room,  and  of  Christ's  true  friends  who  in 
every  age  have  turned  the  tide ! 


XX 

INSIDE  THE  CUP 

**  For  this  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is 
shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins." — Matthew  26 :  28. 

BY  "  inside  the  cup  "  I  am  not  referring  to 
the  engaging  book  with  this  title  which 
appeared  a  few  years  ago  and  created 
something  of  a  sensation,  nor  to  the  picture  which 
films  the  story  of  the  book,  although  there  is  much 
in  both  to  stir  the  conscience  and  make  us  stop  and 
ask  whether  we  are  true  representatives  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus  Who  cared  not  for  caste  nor 
class,  but  Who  loved  humanity  with  such  passion 
that  He  poured  out  His  life  on  Calvary's  cross. 

By  "  inside  the  cup  "  I  mean  the  contents  of  the 
communion  cup  which  Christ  held  in  His  hand  that 
fateful  night  in  the  upper  room,  as  He  blessed  the 
cup  and  passed  it  to  His  disciples,  saying:  *'  Drink 
ye  all  of  it."  What  did  Christ  mean?  What  was 
inside  the  cup? 

There  was  some  passover  wine  made  of  the 
grapes  which  had  ripened  on  the  hillside  yonder  in 
the  summer  sun.  Whether  it  was  fermented  or 
unfermented  wine  we  are  not  told.  Controversies 
have  raged  around  the  question.  Books  have  been 
written  on  the  subject.     It  is  not,  however,  a  ques- 

151 


152  INSIDE  THE  CUP 

tion  of  relatively  great  importance.  There  are 
some  so  concerned  for  the  wine  in  the  cup  that  they 
would  have  none  of  the  sacramental  symbol  left 
unused  lest  there  should  be  the  sacrilege  of  a  holy 
thing.  This,  too,  is  also  a  matter  not  essential. 
Had  it  been,  Christ  would  probably  have  charged 
His  disciples  to  such  caution  at  the  institution  of 
the  Supper. 

The  Saviour's  atonement  was  inside  the  cup. 
We  are  coming  to  something  vastly  important  now. 
"  For  this  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament  which 
is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins."  He 
was  speaking  of  His  passion.  The  wine  symbol- 
izes the  blood  shed  on  the  cross.  The  cup  is  the 
memorial  of  His  sufferings  and  death.  It  is  the 
cup  of  sacrifice,  the  chalice  of  forgiveness,  the  gob- 
let of  redemption.  It  is  this  that  He  holds  out  to 
those  men  at  the  table,  as  He  passes  the  cup.  Let 
us  think  of  this  as  we  commune.  As  we  touch  our 
lips  to  the  cup,  we  are  looking  down  on  the  Saviour 
Who  died  that  we  might  be  forgiven,  Whose  blood 
was  shed  for  the  remission  of  sins,  in  Whose  blood 
the  pilgrim  hosts  wash  their  robes  and  make  them 
white;  and  so  cleansing  is  the  power  of  this  blood 
that,  "  though  our  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow." 

But  this  Is  not  all  that  is  inside  the  cup.  Those 
for  whom  Christ  died  are  there.  How  many  are 
there,  and  of  what  classes?  Who  was  Christ  think- 
ing about  when  He  said  His  blood  was  shed  for 


INSIDE  THE  CUP  153 

many?  Did  He  mean  to  include  only  the  church 
people,  the  good,  the  worthy,  the  cultured  and  the 
respectable?  He  did  not  stop  with  these  on  other 
occasions.  Why  should  He  narrow  Himself  here? 
There  are  beggars  inside  the  cup.  The  lepers  are 
there,  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  the  blind.  Look  at 
them.  They  are  moving  around  inside  the  cup. 
They  are  lifting  wan  faces.  They  are  holding  up 
their  hands.  They  are  making  prayers.  For  Jesus 
came  to  call  not  the  righteous,  but  sinners,  to  re- 
pentance, and  He  said:  "  Other  sheep  I  have  which 
are  not  of  this  fold." 

He  says  that  His  blood  was  shed  for  many. 
Why  not  for  all?  What  a  glorious  thing  if  He 
had  said  all !  I  think  He  wanted  to  say  it,  but  He 
knew  that  some  would  reject  it.  Perhaps  He  was 
thinking  of  Judas.  He  cannot  say  all,  but  He 
does  say  many.  He  means  that  all  who  come  will 
be  received.  There  is  enough  for  all,  and  He  is 
able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto 
God  through  Him.  But  some  will  decline  to  come. 
They  will  exclude  themselves.  It  is  strange  that 
they  should,  but  every  day  we  see  them  doing  this. 
Yet  the  '*  many  "  remains  in  the  line.  Widen  out 
Christ's  phrase.  There  is  a  multitude  no  man  can 
number. 

Inside  the  cup  are  some  from  all  nations.  Christ 
has  a  constituency  from  every  nationality.  His 
humanity  is  racial.  He  is  the  desire  of  nations. 
Only  In  Him  Is  found  what  every  nation  desires  to 


154  INSIDE  THE  CUP 

realize.  Oh,  that  they  could  see  it !  What  America 
needs  is  Christ.  What  China  and  Japan  need  is 
Christ.  What  white  man  and  black  man  and  yel- 
low man  need  is  the  Son  of  Man.  "  I  shall  be  sat- 
isfied when  I  awake  in  thy  likeness."  This  is  why 
He  said:  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature."  He  was  thinking  of  all 
of  them  when  He  said  it,  of  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  publican  and  sinner,  troubled  and  erring.  •  He 
was  thinking  of  the  criminal  and  the  street-walker, 
rulers  and  slaves.  All  are  there  inside  the  cup. 
It  is  the  world's  melting-pot.  There  in  the  com- 
munion cup  our  common  humanity  mingles,  be- 
cause there  our  Friend  meets  us.  He  died  for  all, 
and  calls  us  all  His  friends.  He  says:  **  All  ye  are 
brethren." 

Can  it  be  that  we  have  withheld  the  cup  from 
any  whom  Christ  placed  inside  ?  If  they  are  to  find 
Him,  they  must  first  know  Him.  How  shall  they 
believe  in  Him  of  Whom  they  have  not  heard,  and 
how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?  Have  we 
failed  to  make  Him  known?  Have  we  kept  out 
some  whom  Christ  wants  in,  some  for  whom  He 
died,  some  who  have  as  much  right  there  as  we, 
some  for  w^hom  He  is  waiting,  waiting  to  give 
them  remission  of  sins,  but  they  have  not  received 
it  because  the  knowledge  has  stopped  in  us  ? 

Let  us  think  of  them  as  we  come  to  communion. 
Let  us  think  of  Him  and  of  our  high  privileges  in 
Him.     It  is  a  blessed  thing  to  sit  at  the  table  and 


INSIDE  THE  CUP  155 

meditate  on  His  wondrous  love.  But  I  wonder  if, 
as  He  looks  down  upon  us,  He  may  not  be  thinking 
of  some  who  are  not  His?  He  misses  them. 
Some  are  not  here  because  they  never  had  a  chance. 
They  had  no  chance  because  some  who  knew  failed 
to  let  them  know  that  there  is  room,  and  that  they 
are  expected.  It  is  strange  that  we  should  forget 
at  the  table  where  the  one  thing  He  asks  is  that 
we  remember. 

The  communion  was  being  observed  in  a  great 
church.  The  emblems  had  been  passed.  Follow- 
ing a  custom  sometimes  practiced,  the  minister  was 
asking:  "  Have  any  been  omitted?  "  And  a  woman 
who  had  communed  said  it  seemed  to  her  that  as 
she  heard  the  question,  hundreds  of  women  began 
to  arise  from  the  countries  of  the  earth,  from 
China,  and  Africa,  and  India,  and  Korea,  and 
Japan,  and  as  they  stood  up,  they  seemed  to  cry 
out:  "  Yes,  we  have  been  omitted.  None  has  ever 
broken  to  us  the  bread  of  life.'* 

"  Sudden  before  my  inward  open  vision 
Millions  of  faces  crowded  up  to  view, 
Sad  eyes  that  said :  '  For  us  is  no  provision. 
Give  us  your  Saviour,  too.' 

**  *  Give  us,'  they  cry,  *  your  cup  of  consolation. 
Never  to  our  outreaching  hands  'tis  passed ; 
We  long  for  the  Desire  of  every  nation. 
And  oh,  we  die  so  fast ! '  " 


XXI 

WHERE  SUFFERING  AND  GLORY  BLEND 

"  //  so  be  that  we  suffei'  with  him,  that  we  may  be  also 
glorified  together." — Romans  8:  17. 

THIS  verse  takes  us  to  the  place  where  suf- 
fering and  glory  blend. 
Suffering  is  a  thing  we  shun.  Every- 
body runs  away  from  it.  Who  wants  to  suffer? 
We  hide  out  for  fear  of  meeting  the  dread  thing 
on  life's  road.  We  build  barriers  and  construct 
fortifications,  but  suffering  laughs  at  us.  It 
brushes  aside  all  our  defenses.  It  runs  us  down. 
It  springs  from  ambush.  It  is  deaf  to  our  cries 
and  blind  to  our  piteous  plight.  We  cannot  escape 
suffering.  Some  it  smites  wiih  physical  pain,  some 
with  an  anguished  mind,  some  wiih  discourage- 
ment and  despair,  some  with  the  agony  of  a  broken 
heart.  Somewhere,  sometime  on  every  life  suf- 
fering makes  its  mark. 

Glory  is  the  thing  we  seek.  Everybody  is  run- 
ning after  it.  Everybody  wants  glory  of  some 
kind.  There  are  many  kinds  of  glory, — the  glory 
of  place,  of  power,  of  culture,  of  character,  of 
skill,  of  heroism,  of  sacrifice,  of  love,  of  unselfish- 
ness.   There  is  the  glory  of  the  soldier,  the  states- 

156 


WHEEE  SUFFERING  AND  GLORY  BLEND  157 

man,  the  philanthropist,  the  poet,  the  artist,  the 
musician.  Glory  has  many  garbs,  but  whatever  its 
garment,  it  is  the  thing  everybody  is  after.  But  it 
is  elusive.  It  hides  out.  It  slips  away  and  leaves 
us  in  the  gloom. 

Suffering  and  glory !  The  one  thing  all  seek  and 
the  one  thing  all  shun !  We  locate  them  far  apart, 
but  this  line  from  Paul's  letter  to  the  Romans 
seems  to  say:  "If  you  will  Hsten  to  me,  I  will 
show  you  how  suffering  and  glory  meet.  I  will 
take  you  to  the  place  where  they  blend  and  become 
one.  If  you  will  harken  to  my  voice  and  receive 
what  I  offer,  you  will  find  suffering  transfigured 
and  glory  acquired.  "  For  if  so  be  that  we  suffer 
with  him,  we  shall  also  be  glorified  with  him." 

Glory  Costs  Suffering 

We  get  a  glimpse  of  this  as  we  look  about  us  in 
the  world.  It  shows  itself  in  nature.  There  was 
never  a  harvest  but  had  to  pay  the  price  of  pain 
and  travail,  never  a  dawn  but  had  to  drag  itself  out 
of  the  darkness  of  night,  never  a  victory  but  had 
the  muck  of  slaughter  on  its  trail,  never  a  deed  of 
heroism  but  somebody  had  to  suffer.  Glory  is  not 
cheap.  It  is  not  a  kind  of  ripe  fruit  which  lazy 
hands  may  pluck  from  low-hanging  branches  of  an 
idle  day.  Glory  camps  on  the  heights.  It  is  a  cliff 
dweller.  It  costs,  and  the  kind  of  coin  in  which 
payment  must  be  made  is  stamped  with  suffering. 


158  WHERE  SUFFEEING  AND  GLORY  BLEND 

There  is  a  place  where  we  get  more  than  a 
glimpse  of  the  fact  that  glory  costs  suffering, — 
where  we  get  a  demonstration.  There  is  a  place 
where  this  great  truth  is  proclaimed.  It  is  at  the 
cross.  ''If  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we 
may  be  also  glorified  together."  Calvary  is  the 
story  of  suffering.  Jesus  was  the  great  sufferer. 
Never  was  there  pain  like  His.  He  drank  the 
bitter  cup  to  its  dregs.  He  dwelt  in  the  gloom 
which  hovers  about  the  caverns  of  death.  His 
heart  was  anguished  with  a  loneliness  which 
seemed  to  separate  Him  from  God,  but  in  all  this 
He  was  paying  the  price  for  the  glory  of  becoming 
the  world's  Redeemer.  He  suffered  in  order  that 
He  might  save.  Had  He  never  suffered.  He  could 
never  save.  This  is  the  price  He  paid.  At  Calvary 
glory  cost  suffering. 

Suffering  Produces  Glory 
We  get  a  suggestion,  a  glimpse  of  this,  too,  as 
we  look  out  on  the  world  about  us.  Nature  also 
discloses  it  in  the  frost  which  pulverizes  the  soil 
for  the  new  sowing,  in  the  thunderbolt  which 
sweetens  and  purifies  the  air,  in  the  protesting 
nerves  which  ring  the  danger  signals  in  our  flesh 
against  approaching  peril,  in  those  suffering  moods 
of  the  soul  by  which  human  nature  is  enriched 
with  a  gentler  and  a  wider  sympathy.  Suffering 
produces  glory.  You  can  see  it  in  the  refiner's  pot 
where  dross  is  consumed  and  gold  is  refined.    You 


WHEEE  SUFFERING  AND  GLOEY  BLEND  159 

can  see  it  on  the  potter's  wheel  where  dull  clay  is 
shaped  into  use  and  beauty>  You  can  see  it  under 
the  hand  of  the  lapidarian  as  the  light  sparkles  and 
flashes  from  the  face  of  a  gem,  and  you  can  see  it 
in  the  great  loom  of  time  which  weaves  a  fabric 
we  call  life.  Suffering  produces  glory.  Glory  is 
the  finished  product  of  suffering. 

But  there  is  a  place  where  we  get  more  than  a 
glimpse,  where  we  get  a  demonstraton.  There  is 
a  place  where  it  is  proclaimed.  It  is  at  the  cross, 
the  cross  of  Calvary.  The  cross  is  the  story  of 
Christ's  victory.  It  tells  us  not  merely  that  He 
suffered.  It  was  where  He  accomplished  His 
dream.  As  He  hung  there  in  the  darkness,  He  saw 
the  light.  He  saw  past  the  gaunt  outlines  of  the 
accursed  tree,  beyond  His  persecuters,  beyond  the 
nails  and  thorns  and  loneliness.  He  saw  beyond 
the  veil  Into  the  glory.  He  saw  the  crown  of  con- 
quest and  the  throne  of  dominion  and  the  faces  of 
friends,  and  He  heard  the  triumph  song.  **  He 
saw  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  was  satisfied.'* 
And  so  this  again  is  where  suffering  and  glory 
blend, — there  where  a  Man  laid  down  His  life  for 
a  cause,  and  where  along  a  road  that  was  steep  and 
rough  He  climbed  to  the  sun-kissed  peaks,  and 
where  on  a  cross  that  was  lonely  He  hung  until 
the  night  was  gone,  and  where  in  a  tomb  that  was 
sealed  and  guarded  He  nursed  His  hope  till  Easter 
morning  rolled  the  stone  away  and  the  angels  said: 
**  He  is  risen." 


160  WHEEE  SUFFEEING  AND  GLOEY  BLEND 

The  Message  of  the  Sacrament 

The  holy  sacrament  speaks  to  us  of  suffering, — 
not  merely  of  our  sufferings,  but  of  the  Saviour's 
suffering.  It  tells  us  of  One  Who  bore  on  His 
great  heart  all  the  sufferings  of  the  world,  Who 
carried  on  His  shoulder  all  the  burdens  of  man- 
kind, and  Who  as  He  took  His  lot  tasted  death  for 
every  man. 

It  also  speaks  to  us  of  glory, — not  of  a  glory 
that  is  counterfeit,  not  of  the  glory  of  place  and 
pomp  and  power,  not  of  the  gleam  of  mortal 
triumph,  but  of  eternal  glory,  of  the  glory  which 
Christ  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was. 
It  speaks  to  us  of  a  spiritual  glory  that  can  never 
be  dulled  nor  dimmed  nor  diminished. 

And  then  the  communion  tells  us  where  these 
two  things  blend.  It  tells  us  that  glory  costs  suf- 
fering and  that  suffering  produces  glory,  and  it  de- 
clares that  for  those  who  are  with  Him  the  chasm 
between  glory  and  suffering  disappears.  There  is 
no  promise  or  hope  just  to  naked  suffering.  It  is 
to  those  who  suffer  with  Him.  Our  sufferings 
must  be  with  Christ.  We  must  be  His  comrades, 
His  companions.  It  is  when  we  are  in  fellowship 
with  Him  that  suffering  is  transfigured,  and  such 
fellowship  IS  within  our  reach,  for  Jesus  says: 
"  Let  us  suffer  together  that  we  may  be  also  glori- 
fied together."  This  is  what  He  means  when  He 
says :  "  Take  my  yoke  upon  you."    He  would  lead 


WHERE  SUFFEEING  AND  GLORY  BLEND  161 

us  out  where  the  thing  we  shun  becomes  the  thing 
we  seek,  and  where  our  fears  are  changed  to  hope. 
Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  suffering,  for  if  we  suffer 
with  Him  we  shall  also  be  glorified  together. 
When  pain  and  anguish  and  sorrow  break  on  us, 
let  us  think  of  Him  Who  stands  beside  us  in  the 
shadows  and  suffers,  too.  Let  us  remember  that 
it  pleased  God  to  make  the  Captain  of  our  salv.a- 
tion  perfect  through  suffering,  and  know  that  suf- 
fering can  have  no  other  mission  for  those  in  fel- 
lowship with  Christ.  It  is  to  make  us  perfect. 
When  we  suffer,  it  is  that  our  ministry  may  be 
larger,  sweeter,  holier.  *'  I  have  called  thee  to 
suffer,"  was  Christ's  message  to  Paul.  It  was  not 
a  call  to  a  dwarfed  and  diminishing,  but  to  an  en- 
larged and  ever-increasing  service.  Thus  let  us 
wait  for  the  morning.  For  the  morning  cometh. 
Let  us  wait  for  the  cloud  of  suffering  to  change  to 
gold.  You  have  seen  clouds  do  that  yonder  across 
the  western  hills  at  sunset.  You  have  watched  the 
sullen  sky  sheathed  in  gray  and  gloom  change  and 
flame  into  golden  glory.  It  Is  a  picture  of  what 
comes  to  those  who  suffer  with  Him.  "  For  I 
reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are 
not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  that 
shall  be  revealed  in  us."  **  For  these  light  afflictions 
which  are  but  for  a  moment  shall  work  out  for  us  a 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 
And  so  for  all  who  tarry  at  the  cross  and  sit  at  the 
table,  for  all  who  drink  of  His  cup  and  are  bap- 
tized with  His  baptism,  suffering  and  glory  blend. 


XXII 

FROM  THE  COMMUNION  TABLE 
TO  PERJURY 

"If  I  should  die  with  thee,  I  will  not  deny  thee  in  any 
wise.    Likezvise  said  they  all." — Mark  14 :  31. 

THIS  is  a  great  oath  of  fealty  to  Christ. 
It  is  a  mighty  vow  of  allegiance,  a  sub- 
lime declaration  of  unfaltering  faith  and 
steadfast  devotion. 

Jesus  seems  despondent.  He  is  on  the  verge  of 
Calvary.  He  is  entering  upon  a  night  of  agony. 
He  is  passing  through  the  gate  into  Gethsemane. 
Speaking  to  His  disciples  about  the  loneliness  that 
will  soon  be  upon  Him,  He  tells  them  that  they 
will  leave  Him.  They  will  smite  the  shepherd  and 
the  sheep  will  be  scattered.  There  is  a  tinge  of 
melancholy  dejection  to  His  words  as  He  predicts 
the  desertion  of  His  disciples. 

It  was  then  that  Simon  Peter  took  a  great  oath, 
and  swore  undying  attachment  to  Christ.  "  If  I 
should  die  with  thee,  I  will  not  deny  thee  in  any 
wise."  Peter  was  never  greater  than  then.  He 
was  on  the  summit  of  heroic  love.  If  only  he 
could  live  there  always  and  be  as  true,  as  steadfast, 
and  as  outspoken  in  his  loyalty,  what  a  power  he 
would  be ! 

He  meant  it.    Do  not  for  a  moment  think  he  was 

162 


THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PEEJURT  163 

pretending.  What  he  said  is  more  than  mere 
words.  Peter  had  his  faults,  but  hypocrisy  was  not 
one  of  them.  He  meant  all  that  he  said.  His 
heart  was  fixed,  and  he  was  ready  then  and  there 
to  die  for  Christ. 

Nevertheless,  he  broke  his  oath,  and  perjured 
himself.  It  was  done  under  the  most  humiliating 
circumstances.  Looked  at  in  the  later  happenings 
of  that  awful  night,  what  he  said  was  worse  than 
a  boast.  It  became  the  broken  vow  of  a  perjurer, 
and  stands  midway  between  the  hour  of  holiest 
privilege  and  shameful  denial. 

The  Story 

Christ  had  just  instituted  the  Holy  Supper. 
There  in  the  upper  room  He  was  gathered  with 
His  disciples  on  the  fateful  night.  It  was  the  last 
hour  of  placid,  unbroken  fellowship  before  the 
storm.  In  His  wonderful  discourse  He  had  un- 
veiled to  them  His  heart.  He  had  offered  the  in- 
tercessory prayer.  How  near  they  seemed  to  each 
other  then,  and  how  close  to  God !  Then  came  the 
bread  and  the  cup  of  remembrance,  and  then  the 
hymn,  and  now  they  are  on  their  way  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives. 

It  was  the  first  communion  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  the  first  celebration  of  the  feast  that  was 
to  be  kept  over  and  over  again.  These  men  have 
shared  it,  have  looked  upon  the  very  face  of  Christ, 
have  heard  His  voice  in  the  sacrament,  have  seen 


164  THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PEEJTJEY 

Him  touch  and  bless  the  emblems.  Surely  they 
can  never  pass  from  a  scene  so  holy  but  to  a  serv- 
*  ice  sacred  and  divine.  No  wonder  they  swear  al- 
legiance and  say  they  are  ready  to  die  for  Him ! 

Yet  in  a  few  hours  all  is  changed.  Christ  has 
been  arrested  and  His  disciples,  forsaking  Him, 
have  fied.  The  men  who  swore  they  would  die 
with  Him  break  their  oath  and  run  for  their  lives. 
Yonder  in  the  council  chamber  of  the  high  priest 
Christ  is  on  trial,  the  very  Christ  Who  at  the  com- 
munion table  a  while  ago  said:  *'  This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me."  Among  those  who  steal  into  the 
servants'  hall  on  one  side  of  the  court  is  Peter. 
His  cloak  is  drawn  close  about  him.  He  is  tur- 
baned  so  as  to  be  scarcely  recognizable.  The  night 
air  is  chilly  and  he  draws  near  the  fire  to  warm 
himself. 

Meanwhile  the  most  unjust  trial  that  ever  dis- 
graced the  annals  of  a  court  goes  on.  Jesus  is  ar- 
raigned. The  Saviour  is  now  among  His  enemies. 
They  charge  Him  with  blasphemy.  They  take 
council  to  kill  Him.  They  spit  in  His  face  and 
smite  Him  with  the  palms  of  their  hands  and  heap 
coarse  ridicule  on  the  gentle  Christ.  How  does  the 
disciple  take  all  this?  How  does  the  man  who 
said:  "If  I  should  die  with  thee  I  will  not  deny 
thee  in  any  wise,"  handle  himself  now  ?  He  warms 
himself.  He  is  making  himself  comfortable. 
Directly  a  maid  says:  "And  thou  also  wast  with 
Jesus  of  Nazareth!"    But  he  denied,  saying:  "I 


THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PERJUEY  165 

know  not,  neither  understand  I  what  thou  sayest." 
This  is  the  man  who  five  hours  before  had  sat  at 
the  communion  table  and  said:  "  I  will  remember." 

And  directly  a  maid  saw  him  again,  and  began  to 
say  to  them  that  stood  by:  "  This  is  one  of  them,'* 
and  again  he  denied.  This  is  the  man  who  three 
hours  before  had  declared  he  would  die  sooner 
than  deny.  He  has  perjured  himself.  Then  one 
who  stood  by  said:  ''  Surely  thou  art  one  of  them, 
for  thou  art  a  Galilean,  and  thy  speech  agreeth 
thereto."  But  he  began  to  curse  and  to  swear,  say- 
ing: "  I  know  not  this  man  of  whom  ye  speak." 
And  yet  his  lips  are  hardly  dry  from  the  commun- 
ion wine,  and  the  breath  of  his  vow  is  still  on  his 
face.  In  six  short  hours  Simon  Peter  has  plunged 
from  the  heights  to  the  depths. 

How  could  he  do  such  a  thing?  He  has  fol- 
lowed Christ  for  three  years  and  seen  Him  work 
miracles.  He  has  walked  on  the  sea  to  meet  Him 
and  been  present  at  the  transfiguration.  He  has 
declared:  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God ! "  How  under  any  circumstances 
could  he  get  his  consent  to  deny  his  Master?  How 
could  he  do  it  under  the  circumstances  of  the  trial 
and  with  the  suffering,  deserted  Saviour  just  yon- 
der through  the  door?  It  was  time  for  him  to 
rush  in,  and  stand  by  and  die,  but  instead,  with 
oaths  and  curses  he  denies  his  Master. 

And  the  Bible  records  this  story  of  shame.  We 
do  not  get  it  from  Christ's  enemies,  but  from  His 


166  THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PERJUEY 

friends.  The  Bible  has  nothing  to  conceal.  If  it 
were  a  human  book  such  an  incident  would  be  left 
out  or  glossed  over.  But  the  Book  is  divine.  It 
tells  all.  It  records  the  oath,  and  then  relates  how 
the  chief  apostle  passed  from  that  great  vow  to 
perjury. 

What  does  all  this  prove?  Not  that  Chris- 
tianity is  false,  nor  Christ  an  impostor,  nor  His 
teachings  without  value,  nor  the  hour  in  the  uppef 
room  meaningless.  It  does  not  brand  Christian 
faith  as  a  spurious  thing,  and  brand  Christ's  fol- 
lowers as  hypocrites.  It  only  proves  that  men  may 
fail,  that  the  best  of  men  may  fall  into  the  worst 
of  sins,  that  human  nature  is  weak,  that  tempta- 
tion is  ceaseless,  and  that  men  of  the  highest  gifts 
and  the  richest  experience  sometimes  descend  from 
heights  of  faith  to  depths  of  apostasy. 

Application 
Privilege  does  not  prevent  sin.  The  fact  that 
one  enjoys  rare  spiritual  blessings  does  not  insure 
against  the  possibility  of  a  fall.  One  may  be 
blessed  with  all  the  means  of  grace.  He  may  come 
from  a  Christian  home  where  the  Bible  and  the 
prayer  life  obtain.  He  may  be  a  member  of  the 
church  and  receive  the  sacrament.  He  may  be 
regenerated  and  have  a  precious  spiritual  experi- 
ence and  enjoy  periods  of  great  spiritual  exhilara- 
tion, and  yet  go  down  in  some  great  moral  or  spir- 
itual collapse. 


THE  COMMUNIOl:^  TABLE  TO  PEEJUET   167 

The  fact  that  one  is  a  Christian,  that  he  has 
experienced  regeneration  and  become  a  child  of 
God  and  an  heir  to  glory,  does  not  guarantee  him 
against  the  possibility  of  falling  into  sin.  Some- 
times we  seem  to  think  it  does,  and  imagine  that 
when  one  has  become  a  Christian  the  fight  is  over. 
But  not  so.  Often  the  real  fight  has  just  begun. 
Temptation  is  all  the  more  insidious  and  trouble- 
some after  one  has  taken  his  stand  and  begun  to 
fight  the  good  fight  of  faith. 

The  Scriptures  again  and  again  record  in- 
stances of  the  fall  of  God's  servants.  David  was  a 
man  after  God's  own  heart,  but  he  fell.  There  is 
not  a  perfect  man  in  the  Old  Testament.  Peter 
was  not  alone.  All  the  disciples  fled.  It  is  the 
same  to-day.  Good  men  go  wTong.  Sometimes 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  guilty  of  the  infamy 
which  wrecks  a  home.  They  administer  the  holy 
sacrament  and  then  go  on  to  deeds  in  which  they 
deny  their  Lord. 

It  is  a  holy  privilege  to  come  to  communion,  to 
gather  with  Christ's  friends  around  the  table  and 
partake  of  the  sacramental  emblems,  to  remember 
Jesus  and  plight  to  Him  afresh  our  troth,  to  say  in 
act  if  not  In  words:  "  If  I  should  die  with  thee,  I 
will  not  deny  thee  in  any  wise."  Let  us  not,  how- 
ever, conclude  that  there  is  no  peril  of  a  fall  for 
us.  It  is  possible  to  pass  from  the  table  to  drunk- 
enness, to  adultery,  to  dishonesty.  The  lips  which 
touch  the  emblems  of  communion  may  profane 


168  THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PEEJUEY 

God's  name  and  deny  the  Saviour.  The  man  who 
sat  at  the  table  may  directly  be  sitting  with  Christ's 
enemies.  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take 
heed  lest  he  fall."     Privilege  does  not  prevent  sin. 

There  is  no  wall  against  temptation,  no  barrier 
that  can  keep  it  out,  no  armour  that  makes  us 
immune.  It  found  Christ.  Jesus  was  tempted, 
and  His  temptation  came  shortly  after  His  bap- 
tism, soon  after  the  voice  from  heaven  certifying 
His  Sonship  with  God.  No  monk's  cell,  no  pious 
cloister,  no  holy  retreat,  no  sacred  calling,  can 
make  us  exempt. 

Sometimes  the  peril  of  temptation  seems  great- 
est along  the  border-line  of  our  holiest  experiences. 
Satan  comes  to  us  in  the  wake  of  spiritual  victory 
and  achievement.  He  takes  us  unawares.  He 
steals  in  unobserved  while  we  are  off  guard,  in 
some  moment  of  great  religious  joy.  But  do  not 
conclude  that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  him.  We  do 
not  need  to  yield  to  temptation.  It  is  the  devil's 
lie  to  believe  that  because  we  are  tempted  we  must 
fall,  or  that  the  presence  of  temptation  is  an  ex- 
cuse for  surrender.  Christ  refused  to  yield.  Temp- 
tation must  be  resisted.  When  we  resist  the  devil 
he  flees  from  us.  We  cannot  escape  temptation. 
It  came  to  the  angels,  and  it  comes  to  men  even  in 
holiest  moments  and  places,  but  it  can  be  fought 
off  and  vanquished. 

Our  fall  does  not  discredit  Christ.  It  is  bad  on 
any  cause  when  its  adherents  turn  out  badly.    Peo- 


THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PERJURY  169 

pie  are  disposed  to  blame  a  cause  for  the  short- 
comings of  its  advocates.  Christ's  cause  does  not 
escape.  When  Christians  behave  badly  and  drag 
their  robes  in  the  dirt  and  degrade  the  high  calling, 
the  world  is  disposed  to  say:  "Christ  is  an  im- 
postor. The  Gospel  is  a  superstition.  The  Bible 
is  false.** 

This  does  not  follow.  Because  Peter  passed 
from  the  upper  room  to  perjury  does  not  prove 
that  Jesus  was  false  or  His  teachings  untrust- 
worthy or  His  work  on  the  cross  without  value.  It 
merely  proves  that  Peter  was  a  weak  man.  He 
denied  Christ  not  because  of  what  Christ  was,  but 
in  spite  of  it.  The  fall  of  a  Christian  does  not 
prove  that  the  privileges  of  religion  are  worthless. 
Because  Christ's  disciples  sometimes  pass  from  the 
communion  table  to  perjury,  we  are  not  to  con- 
clude that  the  communion  is  an  empty  form.  Be- 
cause some  ministers  are  guilty  of  domestic  infi- 
delity, it  is  not  fair  to  brand  all  preachers  as  false. 
Let  our  critics  be  fair.  The  lapse  is  not  because  of, 
but  in  spite  of,  the  teachings  of  Christ. 

Neither  is  it  fair  to  conclude  that  the  disciple 
who  falls  is  spurious.  Peter's  fall  was  tragic,  but 
it  did  not  wreck  his  religious  life  nor  destroy  his 
soul.  He  was  a  redeemed  man  before  he  fell, 
during  his  denial,  and  after  his  spiritual  collapse. 
God's  work  is  permanent.  The  same  truth  is 
brought  out  in  the  experience  of  David  and 
Thomas  and  others  in  the  Bible.     When  one  be- 


170  THE  COMMUNION  TABLE  TO  PEEJUEY 

comes  a  Christian,  he  is  born  again.  His  regenera- 
tion does  not  guarantee  that  he  shall  never  sin,  but 
it  does  guarantee  that  he  will  never  be  lost.  Christ 
said:  "I  give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and  tliey 
shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  pluck  them  out 
of  my  hand."  When  v^e  fall,  the  devil  would  have 
us  believe  that  all  is  over,  that  hope  is  dead.  But 
this  is  the  one  thing  we  must  never  believe. 

The  proof  is  in  repentance.  Peter  wept.  Judas 
had  no  repentance.  If  one  who  falls  is  really 
God's  child,  the  mood  of  repentance  will  come. 
The  fall  is  temporary.  Peter's  great  day  was 
iihead  of  him.  The  man  who  denied  Christ  in  the 
servants'  hall  fifty  days  later  preaches  a  sermon 
and  thousands  are  converted.  He  becomes  the 
foremost  apostle  of  the  early  church.  Who  knows 
but  some  new  power  came  to  him  through  the 
awful  experience  on  the  dark  night  of  his  denial? 

The  fall,  however,  does  prove  our  need  of  con- 
stant reliance  upon  God  for  strength.  Temptation 
comes,  but  there  is  a  way  to  meet  it.  God  has  not 
promised  to  keep  us  from  temptation,  but  to  de- 
liver us  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  not  to  suffer  us  to 
be  tempted  beyond  that  we  are  able  to  bear.  Christ 
can  give  the  tempted  soul  victory.  He  has  prom- 
ised never  to  leave  us.  If  only  we  will  live  close 
to  Him,  we  shall  pass  not  from  the  communion 
table  to  perjury,  but  to  unbroken  fellowship  and 
triumphant  service. 


XXIII 

CAN  THE  WORLD  REPRODUCE 
CALVARY? 

"  We  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren." 

— I  John  3 :  16. 

THIS  is  a  bold  thing  for  a  man  to  say. 
Does  he  realize  what  his  words  mean? 
Is  he  beating  the  air  or  is  he  ready  for 
business  ?  We  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren.  This  means  that  the  people  who  repre- 
sent Christ  on  earth  must  meet  Him  at  Calvary. 
They  must  meet  Him  there  not  to  sing  hymns  and 
recite  liturgies,  not  to  hide  behind  the  skirts  of  a 
tragedy  that  is  to  make  them  immune  from  pen- 
alty, not  for  the  purpose  of  exploiting  a  creed  or 
subscribing  to  dogmas  which  constitute  their  hall- 
mark of  orthodoxy.  They  are  to  meet  Him  there 
at  Calvary  to  die  with  Him,  to  match  His  passion 
with  sacrifice,  to  become  comrades  of  the  cross  and 
lay  down  their  lives  for  the  brethren. 

Thus  the  world  is  to  be  saved.  Jesus  did  not  die 
just  to  make  us  happy.  It  is  a  cheap  diagnosis  that 
finds  nothing  more  heroic  in  Calvary  than  exemp- 
tion. Those  who  think  of  the  Gospel  as  a  scheme 
to  play  "  safety  first,"  as  a  project  to  rebuild  the 
lost  Eden,  as  a  post  mortem  passport  to  Paradise^ 

171 


172     CAN  CALVAEY  BE  EEPRODUCED  f 

have  not  walked  the  thorn-path  with  the  Son  of 
God.  Christ  died  for  us  that  we  might  die  for 
others,  because  the  only  road  to  life  for  anything 
winds  past  a  grave,  because  the  only  hope  for  this 
or  any  world  is  in  people  who  love  enough  to  make 
the  supreme  sacrifice. 

The  communion  would  keep  this  in  everlasting 
remembrance.  Christ's  death  is  saying  that  we 
ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren.  It 
is  a  bold  thing  to  say  that  we  will.  Is  it  too  bold  ? 
Is  it  so  daring  that  none  can  be  found  to  meet  it? 
Is  it  vain  to  hope  that  in  the  earth  to-day  may  be 
found  some  with  hearts  prepared  and  souls  afire 
to  step  out  of  the  ranks  and  say:  "  We  are  ready  "  ? 
Peter  said:  "  I  will  die  for  Him."  True,  he  failed, 
but  he  had  one  glorious  moment  when  his  soul  was 
big  enough  to  say  it  and  to  mean  it.  Some  who 
are  ready  to  say  as  much  and  make  good  the  vow 
must  be  found  to-day,  else  civilization  is  doomed 
and  the  world  lost. 

The  World  Outlook 
These  are  days  when  it  is  easy  to  be  a  pessimist. 
The  world  is  full  of  strife  and  unrest.  Forces 
have  been  released  which  threaten  to  destroy  all 
that  has  been  gained  by  the  toil  and  struggle  of 
the  race.  Views  of  human  relations  are  being 
promoted  which,  if  put  into  practice,  w^ould  make 
hell  a  pleasure  resort  in  comparison  with  earth. 
Governments  are  crumbling.     Nothing  any  more 


CAN  CALVAEY  BE  EEPEODUCED  ?    173 

seems  sacred.  It  has  been  suggested  that  even 
God  Himself  be  abolished.  In  the  presence  of  this 
riot  of  blasphemy  and  anarchy,  the  faith  of  some 
falters  and  fails.  The  outlook  is  dark  and  omi- 
nous. Men  are  asking:  "  Is  civilization  an  impos- 
sible dream? " 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  situation. 
There  are  elements  in  the  outlook  which  signify 
a  human  efficiency  and  achievement  never  sur- 
passed. Man  is  more  completely  in  possession  of 
the  mastery  of  material  forces  than  ever  before. 
His  discoveries  have  wrested  from  nature  some 
of  its  profoundest  secrets.  His  inventions  have 
harnessed  land,  sea,  and  sky,  and  made  them  his 
servants  to  an  extent  before  undreamed.  He  has 
attempted  the  impossible  and  in  some  instances  has 
accomplished  it.  What  is  there  that  he  cannot  do? 
He  has  dominion  over  every  realm.  He  can  rule 
anything.    Yes,  anything  but  himself. 

One  does  not  need  to  be  wise  to  find  there  is 
little  hope  of  curing  world  unrest  through  man's 
mastery  of  nature  and  science,  of  trade  and  in- 
vention. Man  was  never  more  of  a  superman  than 
he  is  to-day,  and  the  inadequacy  of  his  mastery  of 
world  forces  to  establish  a  sane  social  order  was 
never  more  apparent.  Something  more  is  needed 
to  straighten  out  this  crooked  world,  to  shame  its 
lust  and  slay  its  selfishness,  to  destroy  blasphemy 
and  establish  righteousness,  to  conquer  hate  and 
foster  good  will,   something  more  is  needed  to 


174     CAN  CALVARY  BE  REPRODUCED! 

bridle  the  license  which  runs  wild  in  the  world  to- 
day, and  deliver  us  from  perils  which  threaten  to 
make  civilization  impossible,  something  more  by 
far  is  needed  than  a  superman's  empire  over  na- 
ture.   What  is  it  ? 

We  shall  not  find  It  short  of  Calvary.  We  are 
helpless  until  we  fall  back  o-n  the  cross.  What  the 
world  needs  to-day  is  not  eagerness  to  accumulate 
but  willingness  to  spend,  not  genius  for  mastering 
material  forces  but  a  vision  of  spiritual  values,  not 
lust  for  power  but  passion  for  service,  not  a  perch 
in  the  sun  but  a  cross  on  a  hillcrest.  The  world 
needs  a  fresh  infusion  of  the  sacrificial  spirit. 

We  need  the  eyes  of  Calvary  to  see  men  as 
Christ  saw  them  from  the  cross.  They  were  not 
enemies  He  saw,  though  they  drove  the  nails 
through  His  hands,  for  He  prayed:  *'  Father,  for- 
give them."  They  were  not  criminals,  for  He  said 
to  the  thief:  "To-day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in 
Paradise."  They  were  His  brothers.  When  we 
can  look  into  a  man's  face,  whether  he  be  labourer 
or  capitalist,  whether  he  be  Briton  or  Teuton,  and 
see  what  the  cross-crowned  Christ  saw,  the  broken 
world  will  begin  to  mend. 

We  need  the  heart  of  Calvary,  to  feel  toward 
men  as  Christ  felt  as  He  hung  there  on  the  cross. 
He  did  not  hate  them  nor  fear  them.  He  loved 
them,  because  He  died  for  them.  He  was  more 
anxious  to  help  them  than  to  deliver  Himself.  He 
could  have  come  down  from  the  cross  and  declined 


CAN  CALVAEY  BE  EEPEODUOED  ?    176 

sacrifice.  It  was  love  that  kept  Him  there.  It  is 
love  this  worn  world  needs,  not  genius,  not  brains, 
not  statesmanship,  not  money  and  power, — just 
love ;  and  God  is  love. 

We  need  the  passion  of  Calvary.  Then  we  shall 
do  for  men  what  Christ  did.  He  was  no  prof- 
iteer, no  wanton  striker.  He  died  for  us.  Neither 
man  nor  God  could  go  further.  "  Greater  love 
hath  no  man  than  this."  What  society  needs  is 
not  to  kill  off  a  lot  of  undesirables.  To  be  sure 
violence  must  be  punished  and  anarchy  stamped 
out,  but  the  world  will  never  be  cleared  of  revolu- 
tion by  killing  people.  There  must  be  some  who 
elect  to  die  for  the  brethren  if  the  world  is  ever  to 
have  a  better  day.  This  is  the  challenge  the  world 
throws  at  the  Church.  Can  we  reproduce  Calvary  ? 
Can  we  reenact  the  cross  ? 

The  Challenge 

It  is  a  challenge  Christian  men  cannot  ignore. 
The  Church  has  come  to  its  biggest  opportunity 
since  Calvary.  The  value  of  what  it  has  to  offer 
was  never  more  apparent.  Men  are  seeing  that  thfe 
objectives  of  the  Christian  Church  are  those  of 
any  civilization  worth  having.  As  never  before, 
the  sick  world  is  turning  to  the  Church  for  a  help- 
ing hand.  The  Church  is  face  to  face  with  its 
largest  opportunity,  its  most  compelling  hour,  since 
Calvary. 

There  are  evidences  that  the  Church  is  waking 


176  CAN  CALVAEY  BE  EEPRODUCED  ? 

to  the  challenge  and  trying  to  form  its  lines  for 
larger  things  than  man  has  ever  yet  attempted  in 
God's  name.  Some  of  these  plans  are  so  vast,  so 
far-reaching,  so  smashing  of  precedent,  so  revolu- 
tionary as  to  stagger  and  bewilder.  Whether  they 
are  the  crotchets  of  crazy  enthusiasts  or  the  states- 
manship of  a  Caleb-like  faith  remains  for  the  fu- 
ture to  reveal. 

But  any  movement  that  is  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  world  to-day  must  do  more  than  perfect  a 
splendid  organization  and  project  its  plans  on  a 
world  scale.  It  must  do  that.  It  must  use  ma- 
chinery and  publicity  and  executive  ability  and 
everything  that  is  an  asset  anywhere  for  God  and 
His  kingdom.  But  all  this  must  be  saturated 
through  and  through  with  the  spirit  of  Calvary. 
The  men  who  are  behind  the  organization  must  be 
men  who  are  comrades  of  the  cross. 

Can  the  twentieth  century  reproduce  Calvary? 
It  can  raise  money.  It  can  hold  big  conventions. 
It  can  muster  numbers  and  arouse  enthusiasm,  but 
can  it  lay  down  its  life?  Can  it  produce  men  and 
women  who  deliberately  elect  to  stay  poor,  who 
are  content  with  obscurity,  who  are  willing  to  wait 
for  results,  and  if  needs  be,  die  with  the  nails  in 
their  hands  and  the  thorns  on  their  brow  ? 

For  such  people  the  world  waits.  There  is  a 
value  in  sacrifice  which  earth  cannot  measure.  It 
is  sacrifice  that  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  only 
power  that  can  save  the  world.    It  is  sacrifice  that 


CAN  CALVAEY  BE  EEPRODUCED  ?    177 

lifts  mediocrity  to  genius  and  widens  provincial- 
ism out  into  world  citizenship. 

The  Sacrificial  Spirit 
What  the  world  needs  to-day  is  a  larger  measure 
of  the  sacrificial  spirit, — not  of  the  sacrifice  that  is 
spectacular  or  that  is  punitive,  but  of  the  sacrifice 
that  serves.  It  was  a  dead  world  to  which  Christ 
came  two  thousand  years  ago.  It  had  burned  it- 
self out  in  sin.  Its  ideals  had  rotted  down  in 
luxury  and  self-indulgence.  Arrogance,  cynicism, 
doubt,  and  despair  were  on  every  hand.  Into  that 
world  of  shame  and  decay,  of  sensuality  and  senile 
despair,  Christ  built  Calvary,  and  from  the  hour 
He  died  on  the  cross  there  was  hope. 

Can  Calvary  be  built  into  the  modern  world  ?  It 
is  no  less  than  this  that  Jesus  expects  of  His  fol- 
lowers. He  is  not  asking  for  influence  and  wealth 
and  organization.  He  is  asking  for  sacrifice,  for 
people  who  are  so  wholly  devoted  to  Him  and  the 
cause  for  which  He  died  that  they  are  ready  to  die, 
too.  I  do  not  mean  that  any  man  can  atone  for 
sin,  that  our  cross  can  ever  be  a  substitute  for  His 
cross,  but  if  His  cross  is  real  to  me,  it  must  be  an 
experience,  and  not  merely  a  memory. 

Are  we  ready  for  the  cross?  Are  we  ready  to 
carry  it,  to  hang  on  it,  to  get  crucified  ?  What  are 
we  out  for?  The  biggest  issue  before  the  world  is 
not  internationalism  or  labour  unionism  or  Bolshe- 
vism. It  is  not  the  red  peril.  It  is  the  red  hope, 
the  scarlet,  blood-dyed  hope  of  Calvary ! 


XXIV 

MEMORY  AND  HOPE  AT  THE 
COMMUNION  TABLE 

"This  do  in  remembrance  of  m,e" — lyUKE  22:19. 
"  Christ  Jesus  our  hope." — i  Timothy  i  :  i. 

AS  Christ's  friends  gather  at  the  communion 
table,  it  is  to  keep  the  feast  of  love,  to 
celebrate  the  rite  by  which  faith  pledges 
anew  its  loyalty  to  the  Saviour. 

Memory 

It  is  an  hour  for  memory.  Christ  instituted  the 
Supper  to  keep  His  people  from  forgetting  Him. 
*•'  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  As  we  ap- 
proach the  table,  let  memory  cast  its  spell. 

Let  us  remember  what  the  world  was  when 
Christ  was  crucified.  It  was  a  wild  world.  Force 
was  in  control.  A  large  part  of  the  human  race 
was  in  slavery.  Ignorance,  illiteracy,  and  super- 
stition were  widespread.  Violence  and  crime  were 
the  order  of  the  day.  Degradation  so  base  that  it 
must  be  suggested  rather  than  discussed  was  com- 
mon. Cities  were  cesspools  of  iniquity,  and  gov- 
ernment a  name  for  oppression.  This  was  the 
kind  of  world  in  which  Christ  lived.     Let  us  not 

178 


MEMOEY  AND  HOPE  179 

forget  those  days.  Remembering  them,  we  shall  be 
less  tempted  to  despair  in  these. 

For  it  is  something  of  a  wild  world  still.  Forces 
which  threaten  society  have  broken  their  leash,  and 
unless  rebuked  and  restrained  will  result  in  wide- 
spread disaster.  There  is  still  the  blight  of  igno- 
rance, illiteracy,  and  superstition,  still  the  rough 
hand  of  violence,  the  red  eye  of  lust,  and  the 
dripping  talon  of  greed.  But  the  world  is  less  wild 
than  it  was.  If  Christ  did  not  despair  then,  we 
need  not  now.  If  He  saw  enough  of  good  in  that 
wild  world  to  die  for  it,  surely  we  can  find  enough 
of  good  in  ours  to  live  for  it.  This  is  no  time  for 
despair.  Let  us  remember  until  faith  grows  steady 
and  we  take  a  fresh  grip  on  our  work. 

Let  us  remember  that  innocence  suffered. 
Christ  did  not  deserv^e  the  treatment  He  got.  He 
was  no  criminal.  His  was  the  purest  life  the  world 
has  known.  His  was  the  gentlest  spirit  that  ever 
breathed  among  us.  Jesus  was  the  best  man  Who 
ever  walked  the  earth.  But  He  suffered,  and  His 
sufferings  were  real  and  great.  Men  suffer  accord- 
ing to  their  power  to  feel  rather  than  according  to 
the  blow  that  is  struck.  Christ's  power  to  feel  was 
infinite.  His  sufferings  were  indescribable.  And 
withal,  He  was  innocent. 

When  we  suffer  without  cause,  let  us  remember 
Christ.  It  is  not  easy  to  suffer  when  one  is  con- 
scious of  his  innocence.  If  anything  can  make  a 
man  hate  society,  it  is  for  society  to  punish  him  for 


180  MEMOEY  AND  HOPE 

a  crime  of  which  he  is  not  guilty.  If  there  is  any- 
thing that  makes  it  difficult  to  cherish  high  ideals 
and  keep  on  trying  to  do  right,  it  is  to  know  that 
you  have  not  had  a  square  deal.  But  when  we  are 
tempted  to  throw  down  our  tools  and  quit  be- 
cause those  we  have  tried  to  help  failed  to  play 
fair,  let  memory  lead  us  by  the  hand  into  the  pres- 
ence of  that  white  light  that  was  led  as  a  lamb  to 
the  slaughter. 

Let  us  remember  that  Calvary  was  not  a  defeat. 
It  looked  so  at  the  time.  It  looked  as  if  hate  had 
triumphed.  As  Christ  hung  there  on  the  cross  and 
His  enemies  cast  lots  for  His  seamless  robe,  and 
Herod  and  Caiaphas  congratulated  themselves  on 
the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  dirtiest  day's 
work  history  records,  it  looked  as  though  virtue 
was  whipped.  But  we  know  now  that  it  was  not, 
that  Calvary  was  Christ's  supreme  victory,  that 
from  that  cross  He  had  His  crown. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  cross  is  always  this, 
and  when  we  come  to  our  Calvary,  let  us  not  be 
utterly  cast  down.  Again  and  again  the  soul  that 
tries  to  save  the  world  must  submit  to  crucifixion, 
but  as  the  nails  are  driven  in  and  the  thorns  and 
the  spear,  let  every  one  who  loves  a  cause  better 
than  he  does  his  life  remember  the  green  hill  far 
away,  and  the  Man  Who  hung  there  until  He  be- 
came so  lonely  that  He  thought  even  God  had  for- 
saken Him.  Remembering  this,  gloom  and  despair 
will  vanish. 


MEMORY  AND  HOPE  '    181 

Let  us  remember  that  Christ  loved  us.  I  could 
consent  to  give  up  everything  but  this,  and  still 
feel  that  I  had  enough  left  to  make  the  morning 
sure.  But  if  I  shall  ever  reach  an  hour  when  I 
feel  that  Christ's  love  is  dead,  I  shall  know  that  the 
night  has  conquered,  and  that  I  am  lost.  Christ 
died  on  the  cross  to  prove  His  love,  a  love  so  high 
that  the  topmost  heavens  are  not  higher,  so  deep 
that  the  bottom  of  hell  is  not  deeper,  so  steady  that 
time  cannot  change  it,  so  constant  that  eternity 
cannot  wear  it  out.  Oh,  to  be  able  with  all  saints 
to  comprehend  the  love  that  passeth  knowledge! 
At  the  holy  table  let  us  remember  the  Saviour's 
love. 

If  we  will,  we  can  stand  anything.  There  is 
much  we  cannot  understand,  but  if  Christ  loves 
us,  we  know  that  God  is  our  Friend.  If  He  is,  the 
web  of  fate  will  untangle,  and  the  long,  winding 
road  will  end  where  welcome  waits  to  greet  the 
weary. 

Hope 

And  so  the  holy  communion  is  a  place  not  only 
for  memory,  but  for  hope.  Christ  Jesus  is  our 
hope.  As  we  look  out  on  the  wild  world  to-day, 
let  us  hope  because  we  believe  in  Christ.  He  is 
able  to  handle  the  situation.  With  such  a  gospel, 
I  am  glad  to  be  a  preacher,  because  I  have  the 
remedy  for  a  sick  world,  the  only  charm  that  will 
tame  its  wildness,  the  only  call  that  will  lure  it 


182  MEMOEY  AND  HOPE 

from  its  jungle  and  transform  it  from  a  fear  to  a 
friend. 

When  we  are  wronged,  let  us  think  of  Christ, 
and  stay  sweet,  and  remain  steady.  Injustice  is 
not  permanent.  Life's  great  reward  is  not  what 
men  may  think.  It  is  to  hear  His  dear  lips  say: 
''  Well  done." 

"  Men  see  thee,  hear  thee,  praise  thee  not. 
The  Master  praises;  what  are  men?  " 

When  the  fight  looks  lost,  let  us  think  of  the 
crucified  Christ,  and  fight  on.  Let  us  think  of  the 
defeats  that  have  been  changed  to  victories.  We 
fall  to  rise.  "  These  light  afflictions  which  are  but 
for  a  moment  shall  work  out  for  us  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

"  Then  welcome  each  rebuff 
That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough, 
Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand,  but  go." 

And  when  the  day  is  dark  and  the  way  is  long, 
and  the  burden  heavier  than  we  can  bear,  let  us 
think  of  His  love,  until  hope  once  more  starts  its 
clear  song  on  our  tired  lips. 

"  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  "  Christ 
Jesus  our  hope."  Memory  and  hope  at  the  com- 
munion table!  These  are  the  twin  angels  of  the 
life  serene,  and  they  greet  us  at  the  table  of  the 
King  of  Love.    As  we  take  the  bread,  let  us  re- 


MEMOEY  AKD  HOPE  183 

member.  As  we  touch  to  our  lips  the  chalice  of 
His  blood,  let  us  hope.  There  is  no  death  for  those 
who  remember,  and  there  is  deathless  victory  for 
those  who  hope! 


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